Hubris Considered — October 23, 2017
Think state-sponsored media manipulation can't happen to us? Check your ego. The workplace in the age of robot overlords; smart speakers don't mean smart users; gas and oil companies and alternative energy sources; helping job applicants cope with uncertainty; the battle for your time; various retail approaches of Walmart, Target and Kohl's amid disruption; Twitter pledges to crack down on harassment and hate; Facebook makes moves to keep attention; Netflix is spending big on content in 2018; the KRACK Wi-Fi security breach; a series on predictive analytics; embarrass your way to success; and more in the Hubris edition of The Full Monty from Brain+Trust Partners for the week of October 23, 2017.
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Top Stories
- A Russian newspaper published an investigative report on the Internet Research Agency, a tech firm based in St. Petersburg specializing in spreading pro-Kremlin messages in the West. The investigation specifically looked at the agency's actions during and related to the 2016 elections.
- Twitter was warned repeatedly about a fake account run by the Internet Research Agency and yet refused to take it down. Asleep at the wheel with a part-time CEO.
- Facebook is looking to hire people with national security clearances, to help spot and prevent future election meddling.
- Millennials, shunning the constant drumbeat of "FAKE NEWS" from a certain quarter, are conditioned by Netflix and Spotify to pay for quality content. As a result, they're subscribing to legacy news publications in record numbers.
The technological expertise of and lengths to which Russia will go to meddle in U.S. elections — regardless of where you land on the political spectrum — should be concerning to Americans and to American companies. Keep an eye on the steps that tech companies are taking (or not) to address this very real issue. And also on good old-fashioned investigative journalism, as curious and inquisitive reporters dig in. We are not above being fooled and must guard our institutions with care and respect.
Artificial Intelligence / Autonomous
The latest in AI, machine learning, bots, blockchain, and autonomous everything.ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE / MACHINE LEARNING
- The New Yorker looks at how the nature of technology-assisted work is changing. Once, robots assisted human workers; now it's the other way around. Welcoming Our New Robot Overlords.
- Google's DeepMind is now able to teach itself better than the humans who created it can.
- Which begs the question: what happens when machines know more about people than people do? It may come sooner than we think...
- The majority of people aren't asking their smart speakers to do anything that smart. Smart speakers? Sure. Smart users? Think again.
- Amazon is expanding both the Shopping list and To-Do list functionality to allow Alexa device owners to create their own lists for any purpose.
- Garmin's Speak is a tiny Echo Dot-like device that puts Amazon Alexa on your car windshield, available for $149.
- Boomerang is a voice assistant for your email that’s insanely useful.
- Nude is a next-generation photo vault that uses AI to hide your sensitive photos. Of course you won't need this.
AUTONOMOUS / MOBILITY
- Autonomous vehicles are heading to New York City as GM's Cruise Automation will test Chevy Bolts there in Manhattan in 2018 in a geofenced area.
- And Cruise is also in talks with Uber to release fully autonomous vehicles in San Francisco next year.
- Shell is buying NewMotion, the owner of one of Europe’s largest electric vehicle charging networks, marking the company’s first deal in electric mobility as demand for cleaner vehicles is expected to soar.
COMMUNICATONS / MARKETING / STRATEGY
- The future of tech and media is more than about attention; companies are waging a war for people's time.
- More than three-quarters of people in several countries across the world believe that their video viewing habits will change in the coming 5 years. Of most significance: the expectation that TV will be watched in VR. Seems like a stretch at this juncture, as that requires a huge investment and infrastructure for creators, not to mention a complete shift in consumer behavior.
- One of the biggest challenges for an externally digitally-savvy company is the HR experience once applicants, enthusiastic after seeing a company's digital marketing prowess, get to know the 'real' company behind the campaign.
- Johnson & Johnson is giving job applicants the ability to follow their progress through the recruitment process and providing them feedback about where they stand. That's transparency — and in a function that has traditionally lacked it.
THIS WEEK IN RETAIL:
- Analysts observe that Walmart is running itself more like a startup than it's staid traditional self, thanks to a wave of acquisitions and a heavy focus on technology. Disclosure: Walmart is a Brain+Trust Partners client.
- And Target thinks that it can succeed in fending off Walmart by remodeling stores.
- Meanwhile, Kohl's incoming CEO thinks partnerships with Amazon are the way to go. The retailer will handle returns of Amazon-purchased goods and will feature some Amazon merchandise. It's a deal with the devil.
- And believe it or not, there are still a few businesses that are immune to Amazon: Dollar stores, auto parts, and home furnishings / home improvement.
- In one corner of the retail industry, there's a saga of greed, deceit, lawsuits and a pay-for-play scheme. Its the War to Sell You a Mattress Online. Or, what happened when Casper got too involved with review sites.
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Platforms
News to know about relevant social, virtual, and augmented reality platforms that may affect your business.TWITTER / PERISCOPE
- Following the Twitter boycott last week, Twitter is launching a new crackdown on sexual harassment and hate content.
- Twitter plans to publish updated rules regarding hate groups and violence by November 3 and is hiring for several positions on its trust and safety teams. The user safety roadmap through January 2018 includes: an expansion of definitions of non-consensual nudity, an updated policy around hate, and added information for suspended accounts.
- Twitter is creating a service called #Fuel that helps brand produce 6-second ad spots and content specifically for the platform.
FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM / WHATSAPP
- Explore is Facebook's newest version of the News Feed, rolling out now to desktop users. Located in the the left side-bar, it shows features like Events, Groups, Pages, Moments, Saved items, and more. On mobile, it's under the 'More' menu. The goal of course is to increase time on the site and in turn, the amount of advertising the company can serve.
- Speaking of spending, you can now send PayPal payments via Messenger and get support through a chat app. Part of the Swiss Army knife approach that Facebook continues to take to attract and retain users.
- The company will also let developers monetize Messenger's Instant Games with in-app purchases and video ads. This gives developers an incentive to create games specifically for Messenger and — what else? — entices users to spend more time with the app.
- Facebook acquired the anonymous teen compliment app tbh, the fast-growing app that's centered on good-spirited multiple choice polls. Anything to attract teens, right?
SNAP
- A survey of 6,100 US teens by Piper Jaffray found that 47% say Snapchat is their preferred social network, up from 39% this spring; while 24% picture Instagram as a favorite, 9% like Facebook, and only 7% prefer Twitter.
- Snap and NBCUniversal have formed a studio in a joint venture and have tapped independent filmmakers to focus on in-app entertainment.
- Snap will hire fewer people in 2018 and recently laid off 18 staffers. All affected personnel were from the recruitment team, reflecting the slowing pace.
ALPHABET / GOOGLE
- Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs will begin its smart cities experimentation with Toronto to develop 800 acres of land into a digital utopia that includes Wi-Fi hubs and other innovations to modernize the area.
Media
The latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.VIDEO
- In its Q3 earnings call, Netflix said it could spend a whopping $8 billion on content in 2018, up from $6 billion this year. To put that in perspective, ESPN—TV’s biggest spender—was expected to have shelled out about $7.3 billion on content in 2016.
- Not satisfied with disrupting the TV business, Netflix also plans to blast through cash to release 80 original movies next year. Original content plus having its own talent, production and intellectual property is key if Netflix is to hold off increasing competition from the likes of Amazon, Apple and Disney.
- Netflix added 5.3 million streaming users in its third quarter, outpacing the 4.4 million net additions it had projected. That growth, boosted by an increase in promotional marketing activity, comes as companies like AT&T and Comcast warn they are feeling the pain from the cord-cutting trend.
- Nielsen has a new syndicated service that claims to enable content providers to see how many people watched their shows—and their rivals’ shows—on Netflix; Netflix says the data are "not accurate."
AUDIO
- Podcasting has come into its own in the last year or so, but it has been on the rise for some time. Here are three key moments that made the rise of podcasting possible.
- NPR has a branded podcast with Digiday’s native advertising team called The Podcast Payoff, which seeks to educate marketers about podcasts.
- More than 50,000 podcasts on Spreaker are now available on Amazon Alexa devices.
- Program of the Week: This week, we feature Up and Vanished, an investigative podcast that follows a case that went cold with no leads — the murder of a teacher in a small Georgia town. Thanks to Jason Peck for the recommendation. Do you have a program to recommend? Add yours to our Google Sheet: smonty.co/yourpodcasts.
Regulatory / Security
Business disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.SECURITY / HACKING:
- Researchers revealed details of a new exploit called KRACK that takes advantage of vulnerabilities in Wi-Fi security to let attackers eavesdrop on traffic between computers and wireless access points, with the potential to intercept passwords, email, and other data.
- According to Krebs on Security: “There is no evidence that the vulnerability has been exploited maliciously, and Wi-Fi Alliance has taken immediate steps to ensure users can continue to count on Wi-Fi to deliver strong security protections.”
- One Google executive thinks our society is in real jeopardy with respect to potential gaps in online security and lax attention to them. Everyone needs to learn the fundamentals of online security.
ON-DEMAND ECONOMY
- If you drive for Uber, your chances for success may appear to be about as predictable as slot machine results. Which is no way to earn a living, in case you were wondering.
- Alphabet's CapitalG is making a $1 billion investment in Lyft. Which may make Google's relationship with Uber a bit awkward...
- Uber seems to have a hit on its hands with UberEats, which is even more successful than its parent company.
Measurement / Analytics / Data
The future is not in plastics, but in data. Those who know how to measure and analyze it will rule the world.- Christopher Penn continues his multi-part series on predictive analytics:
- A new Gartner report spotlights analytics tools that map customer data across channels. tl;dr: the leaders are Google, Adobe and SAS, with IBM and SAP in the second quadrant.
Mental Nourishment
Other links to help you reflect, improve, or simply learn something new.- According to researchers, candor leads to greater creativity: for better brainstorming, tell an embarrassing story about yourself.
- Resilience is more than just bouncing back from adversity; it's also the ability to adapt to complex change. And the better you know yourself, the more resilient you'll be.
- Giving employees autonomy — control over their work — increases job satisfaction. A great example for bosses everywhere comes from a seemingly unlikely source: Disney’s Jungle Cruise ride.
- In theory, you can win as much as $566,400 on a single episode of Jeopardy!, assuming you got every clue and maxed out every Daily Double. But last week, the winner won one dollar. How did that happen? The Anatomy of the Worst Game in Jeopardy! History.
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Upcoming Brain+Trust Speaking Engagements
- SocialFresh in Orlando December 8-9, 2017 (Christopher and Tim)
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