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The February episode of “The Hobson & Holtz Report” features Neville and Shel discussing these topics:

• The Houston Astros’ owner hosts a clinic on how not to deliver an organizational apology
• Oracle workers are the latest to engage in employee activism
• Facebook has way more users than Instagram but Instagram is number one in some important metrics
• An IPO filing lists the company’s influencers as a potential threat
• How brands should handle communications during the coronavirus epidemic
• Twitter has changed the face of journalism (for the better)
• Dan York reports on resources to help you speed up your website, the Internet Society’s new “Open Standards Everywhere” project, job openings at the Internet Society, and how Google redraws its map’s borders depending on where you are

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

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

The next episode of For Immediate Release will be posted on Monday, March 23.

Links from This Week’s Episode

• Breaking Down the Astros’ Latest Public Relations Meltdown
• What to make of Houston Astros owner Jim Crane’s public (non-)apology
• Some Oracle Employees Stop Work in Protest of Larry Ellison’s Politics
• Employees for Ethics
• Change.org petition: Uphold Company Ethics
• Kickstarter has unionized, becoming the first tech company to do so as workers organize across the industry
• Instagram overtakes Facebook in audience of top 50 brands, study says
• Instagram brings in more than a quarter of Facebook sales
• Which Instagram Story Formats Really Engage Viewers [New Research]
• Instagram Is Adding a New Way to Find and Share Stories that Mention Your Profile
• How to Use Instagram Stories in Your Sales Funnel
• Instagram prototypes ‘Latest Posts’ feature
• Bad influence: When a brand’s social media stars repel consumers
• Companies Are Stealing Influencers’ Faces
• How should brands handle comms during the coronavirus crisis?
• How Businesses Should Handle the Coronavirus Outbreak
• Employee communications and the coronavirus: What you need to know.
• How should brands handle their comms during the coronavirus crisis?
• Six tips for investor communications around the coronavirus
• Fake Facts Are Flying About Coronavirus. Now There’s A Plan To Debunk Them
• How Twitter changed the face of journalism forever

Links from Dan York’s Report

• Front-End Performance Checklist 2020 [PDF, Apple Pages, MS Word]
• Fast Load Times
• Open Standards Everywhere
• Internet Society: Open Communication Positions (work with Dan and Neville!)
• Google redraws the borders on maps depending on who’s looking

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

About Neville Hobson

Neville Hobson is a communicator, social strategist, consultant, digital change agent, writer, and podcaster. He is co-founder and co-host of the 'For Immediate Release' podcast. Since 2000, his career has focused on working with organisations globally to help them leverage his experiences, knowledge and subject-matter expertise of social networks, social media marketing, analytics and insights reporting, to create and build foundations for authentic engagement and to expand online reach and influence. Full bio