Disney’s Robotic Groot

Beyond Social Media - Disneys Robotic Groot - Episode 350

BL and David discuss Disney’s development of atonomous bi-pedal robots to play characters such as Groot at the theme parks; YouTube’s new audio ad format; Google’s LaMDA AI model; Hulu’s self-serve advertising; About This Site coming to a search near you; the brand texting trend; Mattel wants to recycle your old Barbies; Snap’s Spectacles are back in AR form; India wants to erase “Indian Variant” from social media; Google Analytics 4 readiness;…and much, much more.

Read More

Mucinex Fashion Show

Beyond Social Media - Mucinex Fashion Show - Episode 328

Episode 328: BL and David discuss Mucinex’s influencer fashion show; Planet Word, the world’s first voice-activated museum; Lego’s drive to promote creative problem solving through play; AMC renting it’s cinemas for private movie showings; Google’s humming song-discovery app; racist-seeking Reddit bots; Google’s revamped analytics suite; Snopes faked for propaganda; Trump’s lax Twitter security; Facebook misinformation continues; the NFL’s fake patriotism; Instagram Stories reach;…and much, much more.

Read More

Biden Town Hall Ratings

Beyond Social Media - Biden Town Hall Ratings - Episode 327

Episode 327: BL and David discuss the viewership of the dueling Trump/Biden Town Hall forums; an array of new Zoom apps; Google Analytics version 4; Coinbase’s no-politics policy; Alexa notifications; Apple pays hackers to hack; Snapchat’s LiDAR lenses; vintage downloadable cookbooks; a social media wellness check; funeral flyers;…and much, much more.

Read More

Apple Developers Conference Updates

Beyond Social Media - Apple Developer Conference - Episode 313

BL and David discuss the most siginficant announcements to come out of Apple’s 2020 Developer Conference; Keen, Google’s new social collaboration tool; Google Images fact checks; Patagonia joins the growing Facebook advertising boycott; Devin Nunes’ Cow wins in court; YouTube introduces shoppable commercials; Pandora introduces analytics for podcasters; Facebook continues to harbor hate; some Covid-19 masks that are creepy AF; mobile messaging app stats;..and much, much more.

Read More

Social Media Political Ad Wars

Beyond Social Media - Online Political Ads - Episode 287

Episode 287: BL and David discuss the controversy over social media political ads and two of the proposed solutions; The Climate Trail video game that takes place in the climate change apocalypse; Samsung’s selfie satellite fail; Yahoo Groups’ move to email-only; unrest on the Facebook campus; the trend toward video games as spectator sport epitomized with the launch of the Minnesota Vikings’ eSports team; hot dog boy gets a ride in Oscar Mayer’s weinermobile; McDonald’s social media fail; Amazon’s Choice paid reviews; Joe Biden’s domain fiasco; political Twitter; and much, much more.

Read More

How China Censors American Companies

Beyond Social Media - US Companies Cave To China, Episode 284

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.

Read More

Amazon Home Robots & Facebook Dating App

Beyond Social Media - Amazon Home Robots - Episode 227

Episode 227: BL and David discuss Amazon’s new secret program to develop domestic robots; Comcast’s post-Net Neutrality slow lanes; the satisfying settlement over the Starbucks discrimination case; Gmail’s redesign and security features; MoviePass Unlimited returns; Surly Brewing seeking a cease and desist letter from Netflix; handheld holograms; Facebook’s sorry ad; Google Analytics’ data wipe; Facebook’s dating app; Gibson’s Chapter 11 troubles; Twitter’s password “bug”; Amazon’s truck delivery program;…and much, much more.

Read More

Sarah Silverman Turns A Troll & Cadbury's Full Willy Wonka

Beyond Social Media - Sarah Silverman A Turns Troll - Episode 214

Episode 214: David discusses Sarah Silverman’s compassionate response to a Twitter troll; Life Time Fitness’ decision to ban cable news; the Wellness VR platform pilot program in a senior living facility; Google’s audio-realistic text-to-speech technology; Firefox’s plans to shame insecure sites; Cadbury’s Willy Wonka white chocolate cream eggs; Apple’s long-awaited podcast analytics; Twitter’s video views; Facebook Ad Manager rules; the massive hardware security flaw that has effected all computer processors; a fatal swatting incident; Ajit Pai’s no-show at the Computer Electronics Show; and much, much more.

Read More

Bud Light's 6-Second Dilly Dilly Ad & Bloomberg's Twitter TV

Beyond Social Media - Bud Lite Dilly Dilly - Episode 211

Episode 211: David Erickson discussed the Bud Light Dilly Dilly commercial that ran during the Thanksgiving Day NFL game; Bloomberg’s imminent launch of its 24-hour news network on Twitter; Facebook’s suicide ideation AI; Facebook Shadow Profiles; Instagram subscribeable hashtags; Twitter’s affordable firehose; Snapchat’s new Audience Filters; the love of heavy metal music; Spotify’s ambitions to become a music label with the acquisition of Soundtrap; Sesame Street’s culturejacking of Stranger Things 2 with its Sharing Things parody video; Gamefly’s ridiculous cowgirls commercial; Paris Hilton’s false claim of inventing the selfie; plus great new apps and stats you should know…and much, much more.

Read More

Star Wars Rogue One Live Stream & OK Go In Slow Mo

Beyond Social Media - Rogue One and OK Go - Episode 166

Episode 166: Co-hosts B.L. Ochman & David Erickson discuss the Internet Archive moving to Canada; obnoxious podcasters; spying headphones; the new Telegra.ph blogging platform; the Diageo VR drunk driving experience; first-person video of the Tennessee wildfires; OK Go’s amazing new music video; Amazon’s conciliation ad; Planned Parenthood donations in Mike Pence’s name; detecting fake news; Instagram’s shopping tags; Twitter’s Star Wars Rogue One Live stream, and much, much more.

Read More