The Zuck Stops Here — November 19, 2018

William Hogarth - David Garrick as Richard III (1745)

Facebook's leadership loses face; Harvard will school Congress on A.I.; autonomous vehicles may mean changing real estate norms; Lime's oh-so-Silicon Valley announcement; Amazon is reaping more ad dollars; the role of opposition research firms in business; Walmart slides into the #3 ecommerce slot; in-store and digital retail go hand-in-hand; Twitter might get an edit button; Netflix might get ads; podcasts are a seductive way to do storytelling; running cybersecurity without cyber; buying safe and secure products this holiday season; it's rewards time in ride-sharing; protecting data is a top priority for CMOs; why random acts of kindness work for all of us; starting a gratitude journal; plus the podcast pick of the week and so much more in the Zuck Stops Here edition of The Full Monty for the week of November 19, 2018.

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Top Story

The company that knows all about you doesn't want you to know all about it.

Last week we learned just how far Facebook would (and allegedly) did go to keep its secrets under wraps. As if trust in Facebook wasn't already at an all-time low (and that's saying something), this seems to have finally set off alarm bells in Washington that Big Tech cannot be trusted.

This isn't anything new, however. Even Plato predicted the folly of Facebook in Phaedrus regarding the invention of writing:

"the parent or inventor of an art is not always the best judge of the utility or inutility of his own inventions to the users of them."

And that by giving them the written word

"you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality."

Even after being called out by the New York Times, word is that Mark Zuckerberg is as combative as ever. There doesn't seem to be an inkling of owning up to things from his corner.

About this week's image: David Garrick as Richard III by William Hogarth depicts Garrick, greatest British actor of the 18th century, in the title role of Shakespeare's play of the same name. He is shown above in the tent scene before the Battle of Bosworth, haunted by the ghosts of all those he had murdered.

Artificial Intelligence / Autonomous

The latest in AI, machine learning, bots, and blockchain, mobility, and autonomous everything.
Aʀᴛɪꜰɪᴄɪᴀʟ Iɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ / Mᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ Lᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢ

The mobile internet, automation and A.I. will have profound implications. Here’s a closer look at how the old and new economies compare Inside the New Industrial Revolution. (WSJ)
The definition of A.I. keeps changing. Here's a flowchart to help you understand it. (MIT Technology Review)
Google is using A.I. to help The New York Times digitize millions of historical images. (The Verge)
Harvard researchers will educate Congress on A.I. The initiative is meant to study A.I. ethics and regulation, and will incorporate the opinions of 30 experts in computer science, philosophy, economics, and other fields. (MIT Technology Review) God knows they need it.
Researchers used a neural network to create fake fingerprints that can fool biometric ID scanners. (Gizmodo)
A.I. can make us better at being human by bolstering one of our weaknesses: emotional memory recall. (Gizmodo)
A.I. needs to be taught everyday common sense, not just pattern recognition, to overcome the limits of deep learning and produce safer, more useful devices. (Wired)
But there's something to be said for personalization without A.I. (Medium) Preach!

Aᴜᴛᴏɴᴏᴍᴏᴜs / Mᴏʙɪʟɪᴛʏ

The most desirable office space used to be located close to talent, urban amenities and transportation. But if AVs are done right, people might not mind commuting longer. (Forbes) Interesting thought that's a counter-point to the prediction that by 2050, 70 percent of populations will live in urban areas. Perhaps the new mantra of real estate is "Location, location...transmission"?
The cultural norms of driving vary widely from one region to the next. To operate safely and be deployed widely, AVs will need to draw on global data sets that are locally customized and continuously updated to account for both changing behaviors and new modes of transportation, like electric scooters. (Axios)
What it takes to build a self-driving car today is much more nuanced and complex than simply putting a well-designed electric vehicle on the road. (Medium)
Under a new name, Waymo plans to methodically build a futuristic rival to Uber and Lyft. This is how it will unfold next month. (Bloomberg)
Connected cars will throw off more data than you can imagine. (CBS News)
Lime—the electric scooter company—is debuting "a convenient, affordable, weather-resistant mobility solution for communities." (TechCrunch) A car. It's a car. We've reached peak Silicon Valley.

Communications / Marketing / Business Strategy

Industry developments and trends, including advertising & marketing, journalism, customer experience, content, and influencer relations.
Sᴛʀᴀᴛᴇɢʏ / Mᴀʀᴋᴇᴛɪɴɢ / Cᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ

U.S. advertisers will spend $4.61 billion on Amazon, or about 4.1 percent of all digital ad spending in the country. About 80 percent plan to increase their Amazon ad budgets next year and nearly one in five will increase budgets by 50 percent or more. (eMarketer) Expect this trend to continue as Amazon gains ground...
The Top 10 Things You Need from Your CMO to Succeed is a great list to keep at hand. (Marketer Moves) Lots of great suggestions here from brand marketers.
Video continues to play an important role in sales: 85 percent of Millennials say they have made a purchase after seeing a brand video. (Marketing Charts)

Jᴏᴜʀɴᴀʟɪsᴍ / Cᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs / Rᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ

Some experts question Amazon's approach to communications following its HQ2 announcement. (PR Week)
Common in the political landscape, you might think opposition research PR firms are rare in Silicon Valley. Until Facebook, that is... (TechCrunch)
Forget big-number influencers. Now it's all about nanoinfluencers. (New York Times) I'm waiting for femtoinfluencers. (Science people will get that).
What's the difference between influencer marketing and word of mouth marketing? ({grow}) Good question from Mark Schaefer.

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Retail Apocalypse

Humans are a transactional species, and the practice — if not the very notion of what retail is — is undergoing a historical metamorphosis.

Amazon played us all with its HQ2 announcement. Should such a process be illegal? (The Atlantic) Doesn't seem ethical to pit American city against American city.

Maybe it was just Amazon SickBurn.

Because of the way Amazon is using its warehouses, it may measure warehouse capacity in cubic feet rather than square feet. (CNBC)
Walmart overtook Apple as the #3 online retailer. Amazon leads, with eBay in second. (eMarketer Retail)
Ford is partnering with Walmart and Postmates to test autonomous grocery delivery. (TechCrunch)
Mall owner Macerich launched a concept known as BrandBox, a place where young brands can have their own stores. (CNBC)
Even with the ubiquity of digital buying, the in-store shopping experience continues to have importance. And even more so with younger consumers, who still want to see products in person. (eMarketer Retail)

"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others." – Cicero

Please share your gratitude for this newsletter by recommending it (publicly) to friends and colleauges. The more you do, the more you'll be helping other people discover it.

Platforms

News to know about relevant social, virtual, and augmented reality platforms that may affect your business.

Fᴀᴄᴇʙᴏᴏᴋ / Iɴsᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ / WʜᴀᴛsAᴘᴘ

Facebook's communications strategy has been delay, deny, deflect. (New York Times) Decidedly not how I'd run communications, if I were in charge there.
An internal survey found just over half of employees were optimistic about Facebook’s future, down from 84 percent the year before. (WSJ) This must have been the half Zuckerberg didn't threaten to fire.
Cutting back on Facebook will make you less depressed, according to a study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. (CNBC) Evidently that's the mantra at Facebook's HR department these days...
WhatsApp is paying a group of researchers to investigate how misinformation spreads on its platform. (Poynter)
The people Facebook thinks you should add as friends. (The New Yorker) Humor. 😄

Tᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ

Twitter's CEO Jack Dorsey says the company may be getting closer to providing an edit button. (Mashable) Time to invest in screen shot technology.

Oᴛʜᴇʀ

Google Photos has become the perfect jukebox for our memories and is shaping our narratives along the way. (New York Times)
Snap says it has responded to subpoenas from the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission about its IPO, following a suit alleging Snap misled the public on how Instagram affected its growth

Media

The latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.
Vɪᴅᴇᴏ

Netflix is testing a cut-price mobile-only subscription as it explores new packages aimed at widening its appeal in Asia and other emerging markets. (TechCrunch)
Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green predicts that Netflix will get ads. Reed Hastings wants to compete with YouTube overseas, and a free version with ads is the only way. (Recode) That was nice while it lasted.
Meanwhile, YouTube is showing free Hollywood movies with ad breaks. (AdAge) Or "network TV," as we call it. (Thanks to Tom Webster for that one).

Aᴜᴅɪᴏ

A round-up of thoughtful analysis on podcasting by operators, investors, and journalists in the podcast industry. (TechCrunch)
How podcasts became a seductive and slippery mode of storytelling. (The New Yorker)
No two people have the same ear canals, so why haven't custom ear buds taken off yet? (Fast Company) They could save your hearing.

Speaking of hearing, listen to this episode. It's the most personal and emotionally raw episode I've ever recorded.

My favorite podcast player Pocket Casts just got an upgrade. Now you can play episodes without subscribing and discover shows that matter to you, which may lead to a bigger adoption curve of podcast consumption. (The Verge) Well worth the $3.99.
Program of the Week: Our pick this week is My Dead Wife, the Robot Car. It's a Black Mirror-equse satire podcast about autonomous cars. Sounds an awful lot like My Mother the Car. (Bet you didn't know that was a thing.)

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Privacy / Security / Regulatory

Business disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.
Pʀɪᴠᴀᴄʏ / Sᴇᴄᴜʀɪᴛʏ / Hᴀᴄᴋɪɴɢ

The minister in charge of Japan's cybersecurity efforts says he has never used a computer. (New York Times) Well, sure. That's the only way to be certain you're 100 percent secure.
More than 50 nations signed onto the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace. (Axios) Guess who wasn't on that list? Hint: other nations that didn't sign include North Korea, Russia, Iran, and China.
A bug in Instagram inadvertently exposed some users' passwords. (Engadget)
Bugs aside, here's how hackers are stealing high-profile Instagram accounts. (The Atlantic) This is the one time where it pays to be low-profile.
Privacy is personal. And with that, Avinash Kaushik has a guide to help you with your privacy settings. (TMAI) Take the time to read this.
Teddy bears that connect to the Internet. Smart speakers that listen to commands. Great gifts—unless they spy on you. Here's a guide to help you buy safe, secure products this holiday season. (Mozilla)
Check out the three-part video series “Operation InfeKtion” that reveals the ways in which one of the Soviets’ central tactics — the promulgation of lies about America — continues today. (The New York Times) Episodes include "The KGB Spies Who Invented Fake News," "The Seven Commandments of Fake News" and "The Worldwide War on Truth".

Rᴇɢᴜʟᴀᴛᴏʀʏ / Oɴ-Dᴇᴍᴀɴᴅ Eᴄᴏɴᴏᴍʏ

Uber announced growth in revenue and bookings, with a net loss of $1.07 billion. The company plans to go public next year, but has yet to turn a profit. (Axios)
Uber Rewards is a new loyalty program from Uber that creates incentives to use the app. (TechCrunch) Smart play by Uber here. It's akin to an airline loyalty program, and gives users tangible reasons to stick with Uber.
Not to be outdone, Lyft is launching a loyalty program in December, cleverly called Lyft Rewards. (TechCrunch) When companies compete, you win!

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.

Are marketers protecting data? Forty-two percent of CMOs said that protecting customer data is one of their top data-related challenges. (eMarketer)
What's the difference between data lakes and data warehouses? (IBM Big Data & Analytics Hub) Depends on whether you're using a fishing pole or a forklift.
Technology is becoming increasingly important for marketers, and nowhere is that seen more starkly than budgets. Martech investments are increasing: 29 percent of budgets will be allocated to marketing technology next year, up from 22 percent this year. (eMarketer)

Speaking Engagements

Always looking for recommendations for venues to share my stories. I connect our digital selves with classical influences, pointing out the universal human truths that can unlock the secret of retaining and growing customer relationships. Feel free to contact me to discuss speaking to your organization or at an event you've been to recently where you think I might stand out.

SPECIAL OFFER: from now through the end of 2018, I'll be offering a discount for up to five subscribers of The Full Monty. Book me to speak in 2019, and I'll speak to your group for 30 percent off my normal rate. Let's have a call to discuss it.

Mental Nourishment

Other links to help you reflect, improve, or simply learn something new.

Ten paradoxes to stretch your mind. (Big Think) Prepare yourself.
We could all get better at being clever: the secret to being witty and clever in conversation, revealed. (Quartz) I'm way more witty in person than I am in print. Try me.
Herman Melville on promoting your book in the age before social media. (Literary Hub)
You've likely heard of the Waffle House Index — the metric used by FEMA to determine the severity of storms. Well, this is the backstory on how that arrangement came to be, complete with a sighting of the W.H.E.R.T. team in action. (Household Name)
Why random acts of kindness make us all feel good. (The Guardian) World Kindness Day was November 13. But you can be kind ~~any~~ every day of the year for free.
If you want to give better advice, understand what your advisees want out of it. (Scientific American)
Inspiration for starting a gratitude journal this Thanksgiving. (Greater Good Magazine)

Top image credit: David Garrick as Richard III by William Hogarth, 1745 (Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

Monday, November 19, 2018