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David Spark joined host Shel Holtz to talk about these topics:

• The Wall Street Journal has shut down eight of its blogs, with an editor of one of the blogs noting that the tools for telling stories have evolved. Does blogging still have a place?
• One of the last program items at any conference is the sizzle reel for next year’s conference. And every sizzle reel is like every other sizzle reel. We can do better.
• Email continues to rule internal and external communications, with more than 90% of communicators responding to a PRSA survey indicating they use it for both. As for newer technologies? The communications industry is slow to adapt.
• Sexual harassment in the tech industry, especially by VCs, seems to have reached epidemic proportions. Or is there a new phenomenon in play, fueled by social media, that one person drawing attention to a problem through social media emboldens others to share their own stories? The same thing is happening with passengers abused by United Airlines.
• Public opinion has shifted and it’s now economically beneficial to include an LGBT angle in advertising and marketing. Members of the community, though, can see through opportunistic ads. Authenticity is key, according to an Ogilvy study.
• Tech correspondent Dan York reports on Snapchat making it possible (and easy) to create filters from within the app and to attach links to a snap.

Connect with David at @dspark. Give a listen to David’s Teardown podcast.

Links to the source material for this episode are on Contentle.

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

FIR is recorded using Zencastr.

About our guest co-host:

David Spark is a veteran tech journalist and founder the brand journalism firm Spark Media Solutions. Spark has worked with brands such as IBM, Microsoft, HP, and Indycar Racing. He’s reported on the tech scene for more than 18 years in more than 40 media outlets, and is the author of “THREE FEET FROM SEVEN FIGURES: One-on-One Engagement Techniques to Qualify More Leads at Trade Shows” available at ThreeFeetBook.com.

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