Digital OG — February 18, 2019

Facebook's culture continues to dominate; experts comment on the executive order for A.I.; Volvo's subscription service is under fire; winning the hearts and minds of consumers; the importance of building trust; what the store of the future should be like; a new Twitter tool will create citizen video journalists; Netflix may lose subscribers over its price hike; podcasting deserves a larger share of advertising; the absence of leaked Equifax data is terrifying; Uber's latest numbers are in; a breakthrough in GDPR-compliant data analytics; improve yourself by reading old books; and more in the Digital OG edition of The Full Monty for the week of February 18, 2019.

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Top Story

Well, what do you know? It's Facebook back in the news, and not for a good reason. It's a continuation of the Cambridge Analytica / government questioning story line, and in this case, the U.K. Parliament and its Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

The Committee said that Facebook representatives "deliberately misled" them or were not properly briefed themselves. Either way, it amounts to obfuscation by Facebook. Hey, add that to complexification from last week!

In fact, they went even further, stating in no uncertain terms that they considered Facebook to be skirting along the criminal world: “Companies like Facebook should not be allowed to behave like ‘digital gangsters’ in the online world, considering themselves to be ahead of and beyond the law.” They also called for Facebook to be investigated by the U.K.'s data watchdog.

This is a particularly sensitive time, as Facebook is also negotiating with the Federal Trade Commission for a multibillion dollar record fine.

Even if we can forgive Facebook's decisions in the years leading up to the election and chalk it up as lack of foresight or a result of a lack of coordination internally, it's getting more difficult to overlook the transgressions above. The leadership has been given ample opportunities to come clean, and at every turn, they're guided by their moral compass, which is expressed through a series of delays, denials, and deflections.

Even as Mark Zuckerberg continually expressed his idealistic desire to make the world a more connected place, the constant hunger for data and profits drove the company forward, ethics be damned.

Peter Drucker once said that culture eats strategy for breakfast. Facebook's culture continues to cast a shadow over its strategy. Or perhaps it's a perfect reflection of it.

“And those that deceive upon hope of not being observed do commonly deceive themselves, the darkness in which they believe they lie hidden being nothing else but their own blindness and are no wiser than children that think all hid by hiding their eyes.”

– Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

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About this week's image:

Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursue Crime by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon shows a dead man lying sprawled across the foreground while blood seeps into the ground from a wound in his neck. His murderer flees with the victim's belongings in his arms. Above, Divine Vengeance, illuminating the way with a torch, and Justice, armed with sword and scales, pursue the criminal. Prud'hon made this study for a monumental painting destined to hang behind the judges' bench in the criminal courtroom of the Palace of Justice in Paris.

Artificial Intelligence / Autonomous

The latest in A.I., machine learning, and bots; mobility and autonomous everything.
Aʀᴛɪꜰɪᴄɪᴀʟ Iɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ / Mᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ Lᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢ

A detailed study by McKinsey suggests that Europe is falling behind China and the U.S. in artificial intelligence, while its digital gap continues to widen. (McKinsey)
President Trump created an executive order on America’s A.I. policy. The national strategy was released by the Office of Science and Technology Policy and includes five key goals: redirect funding, create resources for researchers, establish standards, retrain workers, and engage internationally. Four experts weighed in on the policy. (IEEE Spectrum)
Microsoft's A.I. pipeline goes from research to reality. It’s not enough to have brilliant researchers and a bunch of popular products. You’ve got to have a system–or several systems–for melding raw technology into experiences that make a difference for businesses and consumers. (Fast Company)

Be sure to download a copy of Christopher Penn's AI for Marketers: An Introduction and Primer (Second Edition). You'll find the kinds of questions you should be asking vendors, five practical applications of AI for marketing, what it will take for you to succeed on your journey, and more.

Aᴜᴛᴏɴᴏᴍᴏᴜs / Mᴏʙɪʟɪᴛʏ

Volvo's new car subscription service is meeting with some opposition: California auto dealers, who call it an illegal marketing scheme. (The Verge) I know, big surprise. Car dealers are resistant to change.
Self-driving car company Aurora has raised more than $530 million, on a valuation of $2.5 billion. (Reuters) The autonomous market continues to get more crowded, with payoffs years (or perhaps decades) away. Is there a surefire bet on any one of them? Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, robot delivery startup Nuro raised $940 million from Softbank. Nuro is one of the few companies operating entirely driverless vehicles on the road. (The Verge)

Communications / Marketing / Business Strategy

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

Sᴛʀᴀᴛᴇɢʏ / Mᴀʀᴋᴇᴛɪɴɢ / Cᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ

Strategy is when an organization finds and exploits a change in the business and technology environments and rides it with speed, skill, and determination. (McKinsey)
No, Millennials do not have the most spending power of any generation. Bob Hoffman reminds us that spending power is a function of income plus accumulated wealth plus access to credit. (AdContrarian) Math. It's hard for some industry publications.
If you want to win the hearts and minds of customers on social media, start by listening and engaging with them. (Marketing Charts) Note: that's different from "create engaging content," the favorite phrase of social media strategists everywhere. Good old fashioned talking with customers can actually get you results—even though marketers seem to focus on scalable processes.
Lead generation is one of the most important outcomes of many B2B marketing programs. Here are 12 expert ideas to improve content marketing for better leads. (Content Marketing Institute)

Jᴏᴜʀɴᴀʟɪsᴍ / Cᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴs / Rᴇᴘᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ

Brands that build trust from the inside out, build a cycle of strength where employees who trust their employer are more likely to engage in beneficial actions on behalf of the brand. (Brand Strategy Insider) Once again, it all comes down to trust. It's not sexy because it takes time. But it's worth it. Every time.
And you build trust by focusing on your reputation. (Timeless Wisdom)

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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 abandoned its plans to house one of its second headquarters in New York City. Christopher Mims makes the argument that the announcement is good news for America's tech economy, if Amazon distributes jobs and investments in its 17 corporate and tech hubs. (WSJ)

Amazon blamed local politicians; politicians blamed corporate greed. In the end both parties got what they deserved. (The Atlantic)

Payless is closing all 2,100 of its U.S. stores. This is the latest in a series of retail bankruptcies and closings. This was Payless's second bankruptcy. (CNN Business) When you compete on price alone, with no other benefit and little investment in ecommerce, this is what happens.
And it looks like we haven't seen the last of store closures, as the number of store closures for 2019 has already reached one-third of the closures seen in all of 2018. (Retail Dive)
A new analysis from the Interactive Advertising Bureau finds that direct-to-consumer companies like Dollar Shave Club and Everlane are moving beyond the retail sector and are pushing into every sector, from media to health care. (Axios)

The IAB's study How to Build a 21st Century Brand 2019 is an in-depth illustration and analysis of how direct brands are driving a tremendous transformation in the way consumer goods and services are created, marketed, and sold. (IAB)

Perspectives from retail experts on key components of the store of the future. (Retail Dive) The physical store may represent the beginning, middle, or end of the customer journey, experience matters, and so does your front line staff.

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Platforms

News to know about relevant social media and technology platforms that may affect your business.

The 10 top social media tools brands should explore in 2019. (Buffer) All are worth looking at, depending on your needs.

Fᴀᴄᴇʙᴏᴏᴋ / Iɴsᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ / WʜᴀᴛsAᴘᴘ

Influencers and Instagram go together like peas and carrots. Last year, one in three Instagram posts containing "#ad" was a Story. (Klear)
Facebook’s ad revenue is running at about 3X time spent on the platform. (eMarketer) In other words, you're likely misaligning your budget based on where netizens spend other time.
Facebook plans to coordinate with publishers and influencers to produce as many as six to eight new shows per partner for Facebook Watch. The shows would be funded by Facebook using a production partner and starring influencers with a large number of followers on social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. (Digiday) Facebook always creates incentives around what it wants to promote. Follow the money...

Tᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ

Twitter is testing a News Camera feature, which at the moment allows users to add color overlays and location information to livestreams, photos and videos. (AdWeek) Get ready for more citizen journalism.
Kara Swisher interviewed Jack Dorsey on Twitter. #KaraJack (Twitter) While Kara got some good answers out of the part-time CEO, it was nearly impossible to follow.
Twitter does a good job of allowing a single author to thread their own feed, but Twitter really fails at allowing observers to follow conversations. (The Atlantic) Jack, just accept the podcast invitation from Kara already.

Oᴛʜᴇʀ

Snap is offering to pay companies $50,000 per episode of Snapchat Discover shows. (Digiday) Follow the money...
LinkedIn is the latest (or maybe last?) company to offer live video broadcast with its new LinkedIn Live. (TechCrunch) How 2015 of them.
Reddit announced $300 million in funding, valuing the company at $3 billion. With 330 million active users, that means its users are the least valuable of any social network. (CNBC) And redditors are thrilled.

Media

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

Vɪᴅᴇᴏ

IAC Chairman Barry Diller, the former CEO of Paramount and Fox, talks about the diminished power of movie studios and why “Netflix has won this game.” (Recode)
After the latest price increase 27 percent of Netflix users say they could cancel, and many would welcome a cheaper, ad-supported version of Netflix. (Streaming Observer) Netflix needs to be careful, as they walk a fine line here. With so many streaming options now, they stand a very real chance of losing subscribers if they increase prices too much or too frequently. Fickle vewers can get their streaming content elsewhere just as easily. Another reason why Netflix's own programming needs to be superior.
TiVo's Video Trends Report found that nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of adults in North America use their televisions to watch TV shows, while close to half (45 percent) use their TVs to watch live sports. And one-third (33 percent) of teens use it to watch YouTube. (Marketing Charts)

Aᴜᴅɪᴏ

Between tools like Substack and Anchor, podcasters have more tools at their disposal for generating revenue than ever before. (Digiday)
Pandora's VP of Content and Programming Alex White says the streaming service's goal is to create "effortless, personalized programming and discovery around podcasts." (AdWeek)
Tom Webster continues his smart commentary on audio with the contention that podcasting deserves a larger share of advertising. (Medium)
Today, brands need to have a distinct, recognizable identity not just in packaging, stores, or billboards, but across digital ads, apps, and podcasts–and newest of all, in a growing number of screenless interfaces, like Amazon and Google voice assistants. (Fast Company) Your brand's audio signature is more important than ever.
Program of the Week: This week, you get not a program, but episodes. In fact, the 30 Best Podcast Episodes of All Time (According to mission.org, that is).

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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

“We are caught between two extremes: a weak regulatory system in the United States that refuses to so much as investigate the Equifax breach and a fine-based scheme in Europe that is so harsh that regulators will never be able to impose the maximum allowable penalties. Neither of these systems comes close to striking the right balance of financial penalties mixed with corrective security measures. And until they do, companies will continue to escape serious consequences for their breaches." Why It's So Hard to Punish Companies for Data Breaches (Medium | The New York Times)
Now 17 months after the Equifax data breach, none of the personal information of the 143 million customers has made its way to the web. Investigators suspect that a nation-state is behind the breach, for spying purposes. (CNBC)
A look at the six tenets of data privacy in connected vehicles for OEMs, data providers, service providers, and consumers, according to otonomo. (via Lisa Joy Rosner)
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommends GDPR-like privacy laws in the United States to give people more control over their data. (Engadget) Facebook is now 15 years old. It's time for users to have more (or at least clear) control over their data.

Rᴇɢᴜʟᴀᴛᴏʀʏ / Oɴ-Dᴇᴍᴀɴᴅ Eᴄᴏɴᴏᴍʏ

Uber is suing New York City over caps on the number of licenses for drivers that last for one year. (CNBC)
Uber booked $50 billion in annual revenue for 2018, but showed only a 2 percent growth in Q4. Uber Eats alone accounts for $2.5 billion in bookings per quarter. (Reuters).
Uber lost $1.8 billion in 2018, down from $2.2 billion in losses the previous year. (Barron's) There is concern that the losses may slow the potential IPO, and that Uber's previous reputation of invincibility is beginning to fade.

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.

Augmented analytics, continuous intelligence and explainable artificial intelligence are among the top trends in data and analytics technology that have significant disruptive potential over the next three to five years. These and 7 other data and analytics trends are here. (Gartner)
One of the hardest parts about being a data scientist: learning how to listen. (KDnuggets) The same could be said for marketing, communications, leadership...
Three questions to ask when buying location data for audience segmentation. (eMarketer)
With more restrictions on what companies can use and with consumers being more stingy about what they share, here's what's needed: a breakthrough in GDPR compliant data analytics. (IBM)

Speaking

How can you energize your team and give them actionable ideas for boosting customer engagement? It's all about applying Timeless Wisdom to your process — practical and relatable lessons drawn from historical and literary contexts, updated to inform business growth.

Combine this with Fortune 10 executive experience and some great stories, and you'll be happy that you spent a fraction of what it costs to send your team to a major conference. I'll spend anywhere from an hour to a whole day with your team and give them the power to develop trusted, lasting relationships with your customers.

Let's chat and see if I can customize a session for you.

Mental Nourishment

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

There's been a decline in history majors at the very time we need more historical thinking to put our current world in perspective. (The New Yorker)
With that in mind, you might want to know how to improve yourself by reading really old books. (The Federalist) This is exactly what I preach over on my blog.
Are intellectuals suffering a crisis of meaning? (Scientific American) Maybe we're overthinking it.

“If you join at eleven o’clock a conversation which began at eight, you will often not see the real bearing of what is said.”

— C.S. Lewis (tweet this)

Are you habitually late? Does it bother you? If you've got 16 minutes, you might want to read The Complete Guide to Being On Time. (Medium | Better Humans)
An Oxford study suggests there are seven universal rules of morality. “People everywhere face a similar set of social problems, and use a similar set of moral rules to solve them.” (New Atlas) Humans are remarkably similar, by region and over time. If you understand what drives them, you can act accordingly.
Bruno Ganz, the actor who played Hitler in Downfall, has died. (The Guardian) You may recall the "Hitler Rants" parodies. This is the actor.

Hitler is Informed Bruno Ganz Is Dead

Top image credit: Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, 1806 (Getty Museum)

Monday, February 18, 2019