June 2019 - Beyond Social Media

Spotting Fake Videos

By David Erickson | June 29, 2019 |

Episode 274: BL and David discuss Taylor Swift headlining a Prime Video live streaming concert teasing Amazon Prime Day; the Apollo 11 Augmented Reality app; a historic account of brand tweets; the periodic table of SEO success factors; Twitter and reddit’s crackdown on social media abuse; LinkedIn’s engagement algorithm update; VW’s user generated content commercial; B.L.’s viral tweets; Google’s voice strategy; a voice technology project that respects your privacy; cops commenting racial slurs; Wayfair’s employee walkout; the Google Phishing expedition; blasting emails;…and much, much more.

The Deep Fakes Edition

By David Erickson | June 24, 2019 |

Beyond Social Media - Deep Fakes Edition - Episode 273

Episode 273: BL and David discuss the Pakistani press conference that was filtered with cat ears; 3D objects and augmented reality in Google search; YouTube’s augmented advertising; Cracker Barrel’s moral stand; a robobullying parody video of Boston Scientific robots; museums installing ‘braille art’ touchable recreations of exhibits; Spotify’s Daily Drive podcast playlist and the company’s new podcast-targeted advertising; the announcement of Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency; an AI-generated Russian spy infiltrates LinkedIn; a deep fake Rasputin sings Beyonce; deep fake videos that are as easy to create as editing text; an algorithm that can generate an accurate portrait of a speaker based only on a sample of that speaker’s voice; Google Photos goes Driveless;…and much, much more.

The State Of The Internet 2019

By David Erickson | June 15, 2019 |

Beyond Social Media - State of the Internet - Episode 272

Episode 272: BL and David discuss Mary Meeker’s 2019 Internet Trends Report; a deep fake of Mark Zuckerberg himself; Radiohead thwarts extortionists; Barney’s department store doubles as your dealer; Google Data Studio 101; VW takes its reputation cleanup seriously; Kraft rebrands ranch dressing as salad frosting; Internet-prompted evolution; thumbdrive hacking; the definition of hate speech; two popups too many;…and much, much more.

Spot The Robot For Sale

By David Erickson | June 8, 2019 |

Beyond Social Media - Boston Dynamics Spot - Episode 271

Episode 271; BL and David discuss the NYC subway landshark that went viral; drone deliveries via Amazon Prime Air; Vox Media Union reaches an agreement; Boston Dynamics’ commercial Spotbot; the Obama’s partner with Spotify; Apple Podcasts transcripts; Amazon Echo’s erase feature; Instagram’s influencer ads; Google’s new search results diversity update; Counterfeits on Amazon; fear-based social media sites like Nextdoor, Citizen, and Amazon Ring’s Neighbors; YouTube’s New Hate Speech Policy;…and much, much more.

"Runaway Train 25" Helps Find Missing Kids

By David Erickson | June 4, 2019 |

Beyond Social Media - Runaway Trains - Episode 270

Episode 270: BL and David discuss the geo-targeted update of Soul Asylum’s hit song Runaway Train devoted to the discovery of missing kids; IKEA’s recreation of living rooms from The Simpsons, Friends & Stranger Things; Crossfit’s Facebook pause; Google’s Translatotron technology; Tiny replica McDonald’s bee hives; David Gilmour’s podcast series telling the backstory of three of his famous guitars; Guns Down America’s challenge to blacklist the NRA; Jeff Jarvis’ superb essay about our Crisis of Cognition; PR pros need to do the legwork; Antitrust investigations heating up for Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google; Google’s suspicious outage; The North Face’s disastrous black hat SEO tactic; the limitations of social listening;…and much, much more.