Upon Further Reflection — December 31, 2018

In this special year-end edition of The Full Monty, we bring you some of the best links from 2018. Kind of a meta-curation.

The selection standards are completely subjective — much like the rest of the editions — I pick the links I think are important, interesting, or simply worth your time. And rather than restrain the stories to individual sections, below you'll find the best of each month's links.

Ultimately, the goal is the same: to help make you smarter quickly, by saving you from roaming all over the Internet (or our Archives) looking for these stories.

As we move into 2019, I'm still working on a premium version of The Full Monty.

These kind of "best of" round-ups will be part of that model. I have an extra set of bonus links coming later this week just for Full Monty Patreon supporters — don't miss a chance to see these extra-special stories. Sign up at any level if you'd like to receive them.

I hope this year was a rewarding one for you and that 2019 brings you more of your heart's desires.

About this week's image: John William Waterhouse painted Echo and Narcissus in 1903. In the Roman myth, Echo fell in love with the beautiful Narcissus, who was desired by men, women and gods alike. But Narcissus, on seeing his own reflection in a pool of water, became infatuated with it and consequently rejected Echo. She then pined away until only her voice remained.

"Learning without reflection is a waste.

Reflection without learning is dangerous."

– Confucius

January

The benefits of surrounding yourself with more books than you can read. (Inc.)
The fall of former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick was a lot weirder and darker than you thought. (Bloomberg)
Facebook knows how to track you using the dust on your camera lens. (Gizmodo) This was the first of a number of articles that indicated it may be time to rethink your relationship with Facebook.

February

Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase joined forces to address issues in healthcare for their three companies. The initial focus, they said, will be on "technology solutions that will provide U.S. employees and their families with simplified, high-quality and transparent health care at a reasonable cost." (Live Well Nebraska)
Wired's Complete Guide to Artificial Intelligence. From its origins in 1956 to the latest advances in health technology, it's an excellent overview of where we are. (Wired) It's also refreshing to see them admit that A.I. is overhyped.
Machines aren't the answer, and as they continue to be inserted into processes, it's not about replacing humans. As with any technological advance, there's going to be a pendulum swing, and Christopher Penn has an idea of a hybrid approach as the Human Backlash Against A.I. Is Coming. (Awaken Your Superhero)

Fast forward to this month: Police report how people are messing with self-driving Waymos. Like this one: a drunk guy tired of them in his neighborhood stopped one simply by standing in front of it. (AZ Central)

In an IQ test between Amazon Echo and Google Home, who wins? (Wired) Spoiler alert: consumers do.
Twitter posted its first-ever quarterly profit for Q4 2017. (Quartz)
L.L. Bean's return policy was legendary, as they were willing to take back any item that they ever sold, if it was damaged or worn out. However, the Maine company is imposing limits on its return policy, citing consumer fraud. This is why we can't have nice things. (Associated Press)
How podcasts are breaking through on video-obsessed social media. (Digiday)
From the world of practical ethics: times are challenging, philosophy can make your head hurt, and no one likes quizzes. Put them all together and you get this quiz to test how moral (or immoral) you are, or the Oxford Utilitarian Scale. (Quartz)

SPONSOR

IRI combines highly comprehensive data sets — including consumers’ actual purchase behavior — advanced analytics, and robust technology to offer clients 3-4 times sales uplift and up to 70% improvement on return on advertising spend. Click here for more information on the impact of online ads to offline product sales. (IRI Worldwide) If you ask me, that's the Holy Grail of measurement.

March

When you ask Alexa for product recommendations, it gives you those products that Amazon has predetermined that you should choose from — and more often than not, it's Amazon Choice and private labels. (eMarketer Retail) No wonder they call it Amazon choice.
The CMO Survey released trends around marketing budgets. Top trends include continued growth in social and digital, with a rebound on analytics spending. (Marketing Charts)
The list of OEMs trying their own hands at ride-sharing services is getting longer. (Mashable) It's a classic case of "if you can't join them, beat them."
Fake news travels faster than ever. But before you get ahead of yourself: humans are to blame. (New York Times)
Flipboard should be considered by more publishers and marketers, as referral traffic is up compared to social platforms. (Axios)

New data show just how much social sharing has decreased since 2015. (Nieman Lab) Multiple factors are at work.

The Infinite Dial 2018, the annual media report from Edison Research and Triton Digital that has become the go-to resource for trends in all kinds of digital media consumption. Highlights include: an increase in online audio listening, the rise of podcasts, due in large part to daily news programs, and the rise of smart speakers. (Edison Research)

Amazon planned to hire more than 1,100 developers for Alexa. (Forbes) That's how you know smart speakers are here to stay.

A majority of Americans is concerned about the invasiveness of technology and of the platforms' inability or unwillingness to do anything about it, and wants big tech to be regulated. (Axios)
Google and Facebook may see their digital advertising duopoly shrink as Amazon gets more serious about advertising. (Recode)
Cyberattacks by Russian hackers put them in proximity of power plants and water and electrical systems, with the potential to take them down. (New York Times) This should put last week's ConEd blue light explosion in New York in a little more context.

April

Facebook went on a hiring spree, engaging 11 lobbyists in Washington, DC. (Bloomberg)
For the first time in three years, search drove more website traffic than social. (Convince and Convert)
What we're seeing transpire with Facebook is not an anomaly. Data misuse is a feature, not a bug—and it’s plaguing our entire culture. (The Atlantic)
Uber's new CEO is focused on turning the company around, changing its culture, while not sacrificing what made it so successful in the first place. (The New Yorker) A fascinating longread.
The tech industry's A.I. leaders are mulling ethical standards for A.I. (Wall Street Journal) Now's the time to get out in front of this, before A.I. gets into a corner like other Big Tech has. One reason we need more than technologists on the case.
When creating and sharing content, live by the 5:3:2 rule regarding curation, creation and humanization. (Business.com)
The Advertising Research Foundation announced an initiative to develop industry guidelines on consumer data privacy and protection. (IAPP)
How to prove the value of PR to your CEO. (Spin Sucks)
The sad truth about technology is deceptively simple: we're addicted. (Medium)
India is home to the best-performing retailer in the world, which you probably haven't heard of. Find out what makes it so successful. (The Real Deal)

May

The Rise of the 21st Century Brand Economy looks at the impact of direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands and how legacy brands need to adapt. (IAB)
Following the death of a pedestrian earlier this year, Uber closed its self-driving car testing program in Arizona. (The Next Web)
So you've cut the cord from your cable company. But subscription creep is happening as you add service after service for programming. Add to that your newspaper, magazine, and music subscriptions, and soon you're in Subscription Hell. (TechCrunch)When is enough enough? Or worse, when is enough too much?
The robot apocalypse has been tentatively scheduled for late 2019. That's when Boston Dynamics will begin selling its creepy robots to the public. And don't think you can run away from them, either:

When Amazon met Whole Foods: or, when data-driven efficiency met the customer-driven culture. (HBS Working Knowledge)
Netflix says 85 percent of new spending will go toward original content. (TechCrunch) Netflix means business in its war with traditional movie studios.
The return of The Full Monty podcast with an episode about personal audio struggles.
If there is a fundamental truth about analytics, it's borne out in this lesson from the Dorchester Collection hotel chain: use data to find problems, and humans to fix them. (HBR)
"The poorest way to face life is through as sneer." So said Theodore Roosevelt as he addressed the cowardice of cynicism and the courage to create rather than criticize. (Brain Pickings)

June

Pew Research released its Teens, Social Media and Technology 2018 report. It found that YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat are the most popular online platforms among teens (no surprise). Fully 95 percent of teens have access to a smartphone, and 45 percent say they are online "almost constantly" (no surprise there either). Also, there was no clear consensus among teens about the effect (positive/negative) that social media has on the lives of young people today.
There was a mobility conflict in San Francisco, as protesters used electric scooters to blockade Google buses. (Quartz) It was the most San Francisco thing ever.
McDonald's is planning to add 1,000 ordering kiosks each quarter. (CNBC)
The on-demand economy has reached its peak: Katz's Deli started a subscription service for its famous pastrami. Should we plan a meat-up?
Here are the first things you should learn as a data scientist. (Data Science Central) They may not be what you think.
Request your data from over 1,000 different sites using this service. (LifeHacker)
Next year, people will spend more time online than they will watching TV. That’s a first, and it's happening much more quickly than expected. (Recode)
Unilever called for urgent action on fraudulent influencers. The firm will not work with any influencers who buy followers; none of Unilever's own brands will buy followers; and finally, Unilever will prioritize partners who "eradicate fraud and support increased visibility and transparency."
As you think about travel, you'll want to bookmark 12 brilliant tech hacks for your next trip. (PopSugar)
Why everyone loves macaroni and cheese, or a people's history of mac and cheese. (Zocalo Public Square)
The most important question to ask before you launch a podcast. (Content Marketing Institute)
The secrets of great storytellers. (Contently)

July

If you want people to trust you on social media, consider partnering with a technical or academic expert rather than a celebrity. (Axios)
Twitter has made a remarkable comeback in the last two years. Once left for nearly dead, it's beating earnings and enjoying a more positive internal culture. How Twitter Made the Tech World's Most Unlikely Comeback. (BuzzFeed)
A report of the best social media from America's top 50 hospitals. These lessons are great not only for healthcare organizations, but for any regulated industry. (Convince and Convert)
Some A.I. experts say fully autonomous cars may be further away than expected and that it may be years before self-driving systems can reliably avoid accidents. (The Verge)
Marketing data management is an alphabet soup. Sorting out CRM, CDP, DMP and more. (The Digital Influence Mapping Project)
You may think you know why companies like Blockbuster, Xerox and Kodak failed. But you'd be wrong. Pundits usually think that if these companies only paid more attention to consumer needs and trends, they'd have survived. The truth is a lot more complex and nuanced than shorthand / popular versions of these downfalls indicate. (Inc.)
Best Buy should be dead, but it's thriving in the age of Amazon. What did it get right? It all comes down to knowing how to value and capture customers' time. (Bloomberg)
There are some reliable ways to avoid card skimmers trying to capture your credit card information at gas pumps. (Krebs on Security)
If you're thinking about ways to get employees involved – especially those out in the field – consider using podcasts as a collaboration tool. (Computer World)
When a Stranger Decides to Destroy Your Life: It was the online version of road rage; instead of pulling a gun on another driver, one Facebook user decided to drop a bomb on another's reputation. (Gizmodo)
Uber and Lyft are overwhelming urban centers, and cities need to act fast. The roads are getting more congested, not less. (Streets Blog NYC)

August

Want your content to stand out? Here are a number of solid tips from experts to combat invisible content syndrome. (Lee Odden via LinkedIn)
Perhaps it's time to try a microinfluencer: marketers are taking more interest in microinfluencers with 1,000 to 10,000 followers. (eMarketer) It's not the size of the influencer; it's what they do for you and how they do it: authenticity and engagement.
Generation Z is set to outnumber Millennials within a year. (Bloomberg) Be on the lookout for marketers who do a find and replace in all of their materials.
Facebook, as well as Twitter and YouTube have become the digital arms dealers of the modern age. (New York Times) Strong and accurate words.
MoviePass is raising prices and restricting movies. The monthly fee has gone from $9.95 to $14.95 and precludes customers from using it to see blockbuster movies. (Wired) This was the first indication that MoviePass was on a downward slide.

Then, a couple of weeks later: MoviePass has less than three months of cash left. It has few options, as burn rate has a negligible effect and its stock price is near $0 after increasing the number of available shares by 9000 percent. (Business Insider)

How big theaters are surviving big tech. (Axios) Bottom line: they’re still on the leading end of distribution – they’re in control. And many of them have changed what they can about the experience: reclining seats, assigned seating, free refills on popcorn & soda, dining, alcohol...
Here's a long but worthwhile post about Podcasting's Next Frontier: a Manifesto for Growth. I don't know about you, but I'm a sucker for manifestos. (Tom Webster via Medium)
Amazon announced open source Alexa Auto SDK, available on GitHub, to let automakers integrate Alexa into cars and infotainment systems. (Venture Beat) Can't wait to be driving and hear "I'm afraid I can't do that."
The New York City Council voted to cap ride-hailing services for at least a year, to help taxi drivers recover and limit the number of vehicles clogging city streets. (Wall Street Journal)
There's power in creating a curated newsletter. (Epic Presence) You're proof of it.
According to a new report by the Center for the Digital Future, older users are embracing digital assistants. The study found that 31 percent of Americans over age 65 and 27 percent of those over age 75 use voice assistants on smartphones and smartspeakers. (USC Annenberg School)
How analytics and digital will drive next-generation retail merchandising. As merchandising in retail continues to evolve with the integration of analytics and other digital solutions, merchants need to become much more nimble and ready to fulfill customer needs. (McKinsey)

SPONSOR

Agency Owner Coaching from AMI

Interested in a sponsorship? As one of the leading marketing newsletters, you could be reaching thousands. Get in in touch!

September

This changes everything: how A.I. is transforming digital marketing. (Top Rank)
The power of brevity: "As great minds have the faculty of saying a great deal in a few words, so lesser minds have a talent of talking much, and saying nothing." (Timeless Wisdom)
The number of independent bookstores in the United States has soared in the past 10 years. (Statista)
A preview of worse things to come: How Sears' once-proud Kenmore brand is now on the scrap heap. (CNN Money) Kenmore is the perfect embodiment of Sears’ downfall. How a once towering brand met its demise. Recall that the storied brand Craftsman is already gone.
Dockless scooters have gained popularity – and – scorn across the U.S. (NPR)
We know that the plural of anecdote is not data. But here’s a look at the outside impact that anecdotes play. (Farnam Street)
Waymo is prepared to industrialize self-driving technology. It's the intersection of maps, hardware, and software. And the company has mastered all three. (Forbes)
Americans are changing their relationship with Facebook: 42% have taken a break from Facebook in the last year, and younger cohorts have been more likely to do so than older ones. (Pew Research Center) It's complicated.
Experts say Facebook's public cleanup is pushing toxic content into private Facebook groups, WhatsApp, and Messenger, making it harder to monitor and moderate. (New York Times) So that worked out well.
The Podcasting Upfronts showed that podcasting is one of the fastest-growing advertising media, with the U.S. market expected to double by 2020 to $659 million. (eMarketer)
While you may be getting a good deal on your Airbnb, one side-effect of the sharing economy: it's hollowing out our cities. Transient residents and occasionally vacant apartments mean less frequent customers at local shops and restaurants. (Guardian)
According to the World Economic Forum, machines and algorithms could displace 75 million jobs by 2022...but demand for new tasks might create 133 million jobs over the same time period, a net gain of 58 million jobs. (CNBC)
Want a provocative, nonstop pummeling about the future of retail? Check out Scott Galloway at the Recode Commerce conference. (YouTube)
The Lost Kitchen in Freedom, Maine, is one of the most in-demand restaurants in the country. It accepts reservations one way only — by mail. (The Washington Post)

October

Jim Stengel, former CMO of P&G, has some advice: “You wouldn’t think it, but a lot of CMOs aren’t great communicators, in that they’re not clear with their agencies about what they need or clear with their own organizations about priorities. They don’t get outside enough. They’re wrapped up in their own BS and it stresses them out.” (AdExchanger)
Amazon introduced Four-Star, a physical store that only sells goods rated four stars or higher on Amazon, with special discounts for Prime members. (Amazon)
Facebook would like you to know that rebuilding (?) trust is job #1. (AdWeek) With a history of so many breaches of trust and meaningless apologies, is there any chance they can do it?
California Governor Jerry Brown signed net neutrality legislation into law, setting up a legal showdown pitting his state against Internet service providers and the Federal Communications Commission. (Ars Technica)
Facebook will soon be relying on Instagram for revenue growth. (Recode)
Walmart is teaming up with MGM to create original programming for the retail giant’s Vudu video-streaming service. The shows will be based on MGM’s film and TV catalog. (Bloomberg)
Sears, the 125 year-old retailer, filed for bankruptcy protection overnight and its CEO has stepped down, although he'll retain the chairman title. (CNBC)
The marked contrast between Amazon's and Sears' compensation plans shows the shift in recent years away from employees to shareholders. (New York Times)
How big has Netflix gotten? So big that it's cancelling shows. (Wired)
A BuzzFeed News investigation uncovered a sophisticated ad fraud scheme involving more than 125 Android apps and websites, some of which were targeted at kids. (BuzzFeed News) And this is only what was uncovered. There's bound to be more like this.
Apple CEO Tim Cook attacked the “data industrial complex” and called for comprehensive U.S. privacy laws in a speech at a conference on data protection and privacy in Brussels. (TechCrunch) Hats off to Cook for being the responsible adult. And for coining a term that will have an impact like "military industrial complex" did in the 1960s.
And from the sad but true department: more than 250 people have died taking selfies since 2011. And these are only reported deaths. There were likely many others. (CNN)

November

B2B influencer marketing efforts are on the rise. (Christopher Penn)
It seems unlikely, but Kohl's figured out the Amazon era. How'd they do it? Women's clothing. (CNN Business)
Many marketers are concerned about data exhaust, which refers to the massive data trail that users accumulate as they browse the internet. As a result, they often scrap excess data rather than sift through and make sense of it. (eMarketer)
Orbit Media's 2018 Survey of 1000+ Bloggers is out. It shows an increase in the length of posts and an increase in results, among other things. (Orbit Media)
Amazon's HQ2 con ended in two additional headquarters — one in northern Virginia, the other near New York City. But it also netted Amazon something more valuable than a tax break. (Business Insider) Hint: it has to do with data.
Attribution remains a priority for marketers, but is most frequently held up by one thing: poor data quality. (eMarketer)
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.
In today's world, most consumers think brands lie — and a company's transparency directly impacts sales. (Agility PR)
China is using a dystopian system doling out 'social credits' to determine whom is eligible to travel. (BGR) If it sounds like a Black Mirror episode, it was: "Nosedive".
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)

December

While automakers have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into autonomous vehicles, it's the infrastructure that's going to hold the developments back, as U.S. roads will require $1 trillion or more in repairs and updates. (Axios)
Payless ShoeSource made a fake luxury brand and tricked fashion influencers into spending $640 for their discount kicks — an 1,800% markup on shoes that normally retail for around $35.
Over-reliance on legacy technology and lacking the right tech tools is one of the biggest challenges to digital transformation. (eMarketer)
Two-thirds of adults in the U.S. say that trust in a brand has a great deal (31%) or a lot (37%) of influence on their decision when making a big purchase. (Marketing Charts)
Teens credit social media for helping to build stronger friendships and exposing them to a more diverse world, but they express concern that these sites lead to drama and social pressure. (Pew Research Center) Like so many issues with teens, it's complicated.
A perspective on what the Marriott breach says about security for both consumers and companies. (Krebs on Security) Spend some time with this. We all have a stake in data security and can be victimized by the action (or inaction) of others.
How to measure the value of influencer marketing. (Christopher Penn)
With Disney beginning its own streaming service next year, Warner Media getting into the mix, and billions of dollars being dedicated to original content, here's a guide to the next battle in streaming TV wars. (Quartz)

Sources of Inspiration

I subscribe to a lot of industry newsletters to keep me up to date. But there are some that are more unique that always provide me with some kind of inspiration. They include Total Annarchy, NextDraft, The Red Thread, For the Interested, Almost Timely News, and Farnam Street.

If you're not yet signed up for this newsletter, please do so now. And please share it with your colleauges.

Image credit: Echo and Narcissus by John William Waterhouse, 1903 (public domain, Wikimedia Commons)

Monday, December 31, 2018