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The January installment of The Hobson & Holtz Report — which marks the beginning of the 17th year of FIR — includes reports on these stories:

• The 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer is one of the bleakest yet
• Communications and the U.S. presidential transition
• Business, communication, and the insurrectionist attack on the U.S. Capitol
• The future of misinformation
• Why CEOs Need to Amp Up Their Social Media Presence
• The Heinz bottle competition
• Dan York’s Tech Report covers the deplatforming of Parler, the new White House website, U.S. government analytics, and sea shanties on TikTok (and TikTok’s duet feature)

Our FIR recording sessions are now being streamed live, because why not? We already stream it in order to capture a backup recording on YouTube; we’ve just been making these restricted streams. We have decided to make them public so you can watch and comment. Our next recording is Saturday, February 22 at noon ET. You’ll see our pre-recording conversation as well as seeing how the sausage gets made. Watch here.

We are hosting an FIR Communicators Coffee Break on Zoom each Thursday during the stay-at-home period at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly or request the credentials in our Facebook group or send an email to fircomments@gmail.com. Spread the word to your communications community.

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. Neville’s link blog, Outbox, is available, as well.

Links from This Month’s Episode

• Listen to FIR #1 from January 3, 2005
• Shel’s “Webcor at 50” podcast
• Circle of Fellows podcast: A look back at communications in 2020
• Politemail report on employees and click fatigue
• 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer
• 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer: Plague of Mistrust Follows COVID-19
• Technologists Use Facial Recognition on Parler Videos
• President Biden Swore In Hundreds Of Appointees On A Zoom Call
• President Biden Swears In Day One Presidential Appointees in a Virtual Ceremony (YouTube)
• New White House website includes a hidden recruitment message for coders
• As Americans Crave Stability After Capitol Attack, CEOs Step Into the Leadership Void
• Ben & Jerry’s Calls to “Impeach” Trump as Brands Like Coca-Cola and Chevron Break Their Silence on the Capitol Insurrection
• Facebook Forced Its Employees To Stop Discussing Trump’s Coup Attempt
• Richard Edelman: CEOs must reassure employees after Capitol Hill riot
• Hyatt faces backlash for “harboring domestic terrorists” following Capitol riots
• Business Leaders Condemn Violence on Capitol Hill: ‘This Is Sedition’
• Online misinformation about the US election fell 73% after Trump’s social media ban
• Twitter’s decentralized future
• Post Trump, a better system must start in America
• Referring Former President Trump’s Suspension from Facebook to the Oversight Board
• Twitter thread of Facebook’s Oversight Board
• Review of Trump ban marks major turning point for Facebook
• How Social Media’s Obsession with Scale Supercharged Disinformation
• CEOs! It’s time to up your social media strategy
• Heinz Asked People to Draw Ketchup, Then Turned the Artwork into Custom Bottles
• Draw Ketchup site
• Ketchup competition video
• Draw Ketchup examples

Links from Dan York’s Tech Report

• Dan’s Twitter thread on deplatforming Parler
• The new White House website (created on WordPress)
• New WhiteHouse.gov (post by Matt Mullenweg)
• Biden White House Sticks with WordPress for Website Relaunch
• U.S. government analytics
• Example of sea shanties on TikTok (and TikTok’s Duet feature)

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