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Two conversations anchor this week’s podcast. Jen Phillips and Sherrilynne Starkie chat with host Shel Holtz about the real impact of fake news on public relations and what practitioners can do about it, and Sharon McIntosh and Shel riff on internal communication predictions for 2019. Also in this week’s episode:

• FIR made three lists of must-listen podcasts in one week
• Edelman’s Digital Trends 2019 is a long but important read
• For the first time, social media is a bigger news source for Americans than print newspapers
• There’s some fun to be had in an internal communication contest from Contact Monkey
• Google will shut down Google+ sooner than expected
• Voice messaging has come to Instagram
• Some useful observations about voice tech
• “Brand purpose” is the marketing word(s) of the year (according to the ANA)
• Dan York says he may give up on Facebook. Dan’s report also covers the Intelligent Edge, Facebook’s “Today In” feature, YouTube Stories, and TechMeme leaderboards.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog.

About Sharon McIntosh

Sharon McIntosh is president of And Then Communications. She also co-hosts EE Voice on the FIR Podcast Network. With more than two decades of communications experience, she has a passion for creating and executing new ideas to drive employee engagement at companies both large and small. Most recently Sharon served as PepsiCo’s vice president of Global Internal Communications, overseeing the company’s efforts to connect with its more than 274,000 employees worldwide. She and her team launched a number of innovative employee initiatives, including the company’s first social media training (SMART U), a social tool to share internal news externally and PepsiCo’s award-winning employee ambassador program. She and her team also developed a communications strategy to support the company’s first comprehensive, global and multi-year transformation initiative. Before joining PepsiCo in 2004, Sharon spent seven years at Sears. Among her greatest contributions there, she launched a marketing strategy for life events, ran user experience for the company’s e-commerce site and introduced the company’s first intranet. Prior to Sears, she worked at Waste Management, publishing more than 14 annual reports for various business units, managing shareholder meetings, drafting senior executive speeches and handling media relations. Sharon graduated with a B.A. in journalism from Marquette University and an M.A. from DePaul University. She lives in Norwalk, CT.

About Shel Holtz

Shel Holtz, ABC (Accredited Business Communicator), is director of Internal Communications at Webcor, a commercial general contractor headquartered in San Francisco. Before joining Webcor, Shel spent 21 years as principal of Holtz Communication + Technology. In addition to integrating technology into communications strategies, his expertise includes strategic communications planning, change management, organizational culture, business initiatives and communications research. Full bio