How China Censors American Companies
Beyond Social Media Show, Episode 284
BL and David discuss American companies that cave to Chinese censorship; a Sesame Street character who addresses addiction; Target’s emphasis on audio branding; Siri comes to Spotify; an adorable MSNBC interruption; an augmented reality opera marketing campaign; whiskey pods; Amazon’s initiative to get voice assistants to work together; top sites that fact check fake news; malicious apps in Google Play; Google crowdsourced shopping ads; Google will soon block mixed content; and much, much more.
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Best Digital Cases
Trouble on Sesame Street
Sesame Street has added 6 year-old Karli, a character who is in foster care because of her mother’s addiction.
Targeting Sonic Branding
With Target now firmly back on track to growth, the company’s chief marketing and digital officer, Rick Gomez, is turning his gaze on the more ancillary branding opportunity of audio.
Spotify Gets Siri
With the latest iOs 13 update, you can now request your favorite music or podcasts using Siri voice commands.
MSNBC Mom
Remember BBC Dad? It’s happened again.
AR Opera Experience
The Welsh National Opera has collaborated with immersive technology company Arcade to produce a new AR experience – with hopes of attracting new fans
Whiskey Pods
The Glenlivet Capsule Collection is a brilliant PR play.
Amazon’s Making Voice Assistants Work Together
Amazon announced the Voice Interoperability Initiative, a coalition of approximately 30 well-known companies focused on improving how their voice assistants work together.
- Amazon enlists 30 companies to improve how voice assistants work together
- Amazon Partners with over 30 Companies: VI Initiative
- Amazon and Leading Technology Companies Announce the Voice Interoperability Initiative
Crowdsourced Shopping Ads
Google is introducing user-generated images in product reviews on Google Shopping.
- Google Begins Showing User-Generated Images in Product Reviews
- Reviewer Images Schema
- Google’s Product Ratings Program
8 Best Fact Checking Sites
Here are some of the best fact checking sites to help you find the truth.
- The 8 Best Fact-Checking Sites for Finding Unbiased Truth
- Media Bias/FactCheck (MBFC News)
- Truth or Fiction
- Lead Story
- Crap Detection Resources by Howard Rheingold
Worst Digital Cases
Malicious Google Play
In September alone, researchers uncovered a total of 172 infected apps on the Play Store. The worst part? These apps had racked up over 335 million installs by the time they were detected by security experts.
Blizzard, NBA & Apple Cave To China
Three companies cowardly caved to China’s demand to silence Hong Kong protesters.
- One of America’s biggest gaming companies is acting as China’s censor
- Activision Blizzard stock price dips as video game players call for boycotts
- Blizzard Employees Staged a Walkout to Protest Ban of Pro-Hong Kong Gamer
- The raging controversy over the NBA, China, and the Hong Kong protests, explained
- Tim Cook Explains Why Apple Sold Out Hong Kong Protestors, Doubles Down
Mixed Content
Google announced that Chrome browser will begin blocking web pages with mixed content beginning December 2019.
Shiny New Stuff
Google Analytics Lead Scoring
How To article for pulling lead scoring data into Google Analytics.
Wired’s Guide to AI
A very good, hype-free guide to the history, potential and jargon of AI.
Domain Analytics
Moz is offering a free tool that provides analytics data on any domain name.
Politics
Online Impeachment News
DemCast aims to cultivate, amplify & maximize the impact of grassroots digital media, bolstering blue electoral and policy victories at all levels of government, across America.
Facebook “I Voted” Button…For Donald Trump
Facebook’s “I Voted” button seems neutral but it isn’t turning out a cross section of Americans.
Unclear Politics
RealClearPolitics has carefully cultivated a non-partisan image—while its parent company pushes images of killer Clintons and a freedom-loving Kremlin. It was outed by The Daily Beast.