Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz

For Immediate Release

A Marketing , Business and News podcast

#73 in Marketing · 🇳🇿 #78 in Marketing · 🇩🇰

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About the show

Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz analyze the month’s news in digital and social media for communications professionals.

Newest episodes

FIR #535: Communicating in the Wake of Big Tech's Big Political Gamble

Nov 12, 2026 27 min

Political access can open doors, but what happens when the political landscape changes? Big Tech’s close relationships with Donald Trump set the stage for a discussion of corporate reputation, executive judgment, and the limits of communications counsel. Nick Clegg’s assessment of Silicon Valley’s embrace of Trump raises a familiar question: Does having a seat at the executive table mean communicators have the influence to challenge a potentially damaging decision? Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz explore what chief communication officers should advise when commercial interests, political relationships, and corporate values collide, and what to do when that advice is ignored. They also consider how to prepare executives for scrutiny, answer employees’ questions, and rebuild trust through changes in behavior. For communicators, the challenge extends well beyond explaining a CEO’s decisions to helping shape better ones. Continue Reading → The post FIR #535: Communicating in the Wake of Big Tech’s Big Political Gamble appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #534: Is A Scandal-Based Marketing Campaign Worth the Risk?

Nov 5, 2026 20 min

When brands deliberately provoke outrage, is the backlash a crisis or a planned part of the marketing strategy? Reformation’s campaign featuring Olivia Jade Giannulli, whose family was embroiled in the college admissions scandal, raises questions about using controversy to sell products. The campaign’s charitable donation from each sale adds another layer to the discussion, but... Continue Reading → The post FIR #534: Is A Scandal-Based Marketing Campaign Worth the Risk? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #533: The Two Distinct Realities of AI Adoption

Oct 26, 2026 1 hr 25 min

In this long-form October 2026 episode of For Immediate Release, Neville and Shel report on FGS Global’s research, “Winning the Debate on AI.” More than 7,000 people across seven countries rate AI as the least trusted technology in widespread use, yet 37% became more positive after hearing about its benefits. Shel looks at Microsoft’s move of communications into its corporate, external, and legal affairs group, and its plan to put employees out front telling the company’s story. Neville examines OpenAI’s Locked Chats and the gap between the name and what the feature delivers. Shel reports on Fresh’s finding that 28% of employees meet company news through an AI summary first, and on how to write content that survives it. Neville asks what a Northern Ireland council’s return to a printed newsletter says about channels and measurement. Shel closes with the Wharton 2026 AI Adoption Report, in which managers and the employees they manage describe two very different workplaces. In his Tech Report, Dan York reports on the critical PHP vulnerabilities fixed in the October 21 security release. The two remote code execution flaws affect any server hosting a PHP application, which is why WordPress and other platforms urged immediate updates. Dan covers why the release was coordinated, the role AI plays in the story, and the xkcd comic that captures how much of the internet depends on a few critical components. He then turns to Freedom House’s Freedom on the Net 2026 report, “Seismic Shifts on the Global Internet,” and to the French government’s pressure on Meta, TikTok, and other platforms as protests spread this weekend. He closes with two fediverse stories: the Social Web Foundation’s Fediverse Multimedia Grants, funded by a $200,000 Interledger Foundation grant, and what’s coming in Mastodon 5.0, including a redesigned composer and navigation. We’d love to hear from you: comment on LinkedIn, Facebook, Threads, or WhatsApp, email fircomments@gmail.com with or without an au...

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All episodes

FIR #535: Communicating in the Wake of Big Tech's Big Political Gamble

Nov 12, 2026 27 min

FIR #534: Is A Scandal-Based Marketing Campaign Worth the Risk?

Nov 5, 2026 20 min

FIR #533: The Two Distinct Realities of AI Adoption

Oct 26, 2026 1 hr 25 min

FIR #532: Do You Really Want That "Seat at the Table"?

Oct 20, 2026 25 min

Most communicators long for that coveted seat at the table. What do those who have attained it have to say about it? What does it take to achieve it? And does it deliver the kind of influence top-level communicators want? Neville and Shel explore the data and share their own thoughts in this short midweek... Continue Reading → The post FIR #532: Do You Really Want That “Seat at the Table”? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #531: Should You Mimic Your Detractors?

Oct 12, 2026 21 min

When misinformation strikes, PR professionals swing into action, directing people to accurate information. But will people follow your links? One study found that people are far more likely to see what you have to say if the invitation sounds much like the language used to invite them to the original misinformation. Neville and Shel discuss the idea in this short midweek FIR episode. Continue Reading → The post FIR #531: Should You Mimic Your Detractors? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #530: Has AI Created a Demand for Human Ghostwriters?

Oct 6, 2026 21 min

The volume of AI slop appearing as thought leadership on LinkedIn has, according to the Financial Times, led to a surge in interest in human ghostwriters. In this short midweek episode, Neville and Shel discuss whether this makes sense or if it's just another case of people using AI poorly. Continue Reading → The post FIR #530: Has AI Created a Demand for Human Ghostwriters? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #529: Fake Quotes from Fake Experts Find Their Way Into Top-Tier Media

Sep 28, 2026 49 min

A Press-Gazette investigation found that dozens of experts quoted in the mainstream media don't actually exist, and PR agencies are unwittingly sharing them with the press. This poses a credibility issue for the agencies and the media. It requires a layer of verification unlike anything we've faced before. Also in this episode, crisis communication has long been housed in the PR or communications department. Should it be a governance responsibility of the C-suite? That's the case made in a new report from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. In his Tech Report, Dan York covers an initiative to close the AI language gap, including video moves by YouTube and Bluesky, smart glasses, and enhancements to Threads' podcast toolkit. Continue Reading → The post FIR #529: Fake Quotes from Fake Experts Find Their Way Into Top-Tier Media appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #528: Why Marketers Are Suddenly Obsessed with Fandom

Sep 3, 2026 23 min

Fandoms are not synonymous with audiences or communities. The difference: Fans' identities are tied up with the team, artist, product, or other object of their passion. It's not surprising that marketers are chasing fandoms, in hopes of turning their brands into something people are genuinely excited about. But not everything is a potential flashpoint for a fan base. In this short midweek FIR episode, Neville and Shel explore what distinguishes fans from members of other audiences or communities, how brands might leverage them, the wisdom of trying to spin up a fan base, and why fandoms might rebel against attempts to use them for marketing purposes. Continue Reading → The post FIR #528: Why Marketers Are Suddenly Obsessed with Fandom appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #527: Delegating Hiring Decisions to AI

Aug 24, 2026 1 hr 34 min

At one company, a leader discovered by chance that AI was rejecting job candidate applications within seconds of their arrival. One reason: They graduated from college before 2010, which contradicted the instruction to surface candidates who displayed "youthful energy." What's worse, the talent acquisition manager didn't see any liability issues, since AI made the decision. Also in this long-form episode for August 2026: An expert witness used ChatGPT to prepare a report. The prompts he used to generate the report were uncovered during discovery and entered into evidence. Nutrogena parted ways with its spokesperson, Hayden Panetierre, more than a decade ago. Its rationale for that decision has created a crisis for Nutrogena today in the wake of Panetierre's untimely death. Brands suddenly care about Reddit thanks to its (perceived) role in AI-generated overviews and summaries. Redditors haven't returned the feeling. Meta is facing a trillion-dollar-plus judgment in its current trial, but even more consequential could be a requirement to strip from its social media platforms the devices that addicted young people, many of which have become standards for social media. Will social media as we know it change in the wake of the verdict? Some companies are compensating employees who join the ranks of influencers and creators sharing content about the companies' products and services. It sounds like a good idea, until you look at the labor, HR, and legal issues that arise. In his Tech Report, Dan York provides more statistics about the decline in referral traffic thanks to AI overviews and searches via LLMs, Time magazine's decision to inject ads into markdown files targeting AI agents (and Perplexity's decision to block them), and LinkedIn's "Seems Like AI Slop" option -- is it working? Continue Reading → The post FIR #527: Delegating Hiring Decisions to AI appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #526: Forget Anthropic's AI Watermark. Can You Defend Every Sentence?

Aug 17, 2026 22 min

Anthropic's watermark scheme is the focus of so much discussion that you could be excused for thinking there was nothing else to talk about. For many, it's the solution to identifying all those evil-doers who offload their writing to large language models. But we are wasting far too much time trying to determine whether (and to what degree) AI was involved in creating content. Much more important is determining whether the content was crafted with respect for the reader, and whether the creator can stand by every word. That's the idea behind the new AI writing policy from the software company Clay, which makes far more sense than trying to detect a watermark. Continue Reading → The post FIR #526: Forget Anthropic’s AI Watermark. Can You Defend Every Sentence? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #525: The Consequences Businesses Will Face from Work Slop

Aug 13, 2026 22 min

We have been hearing about work slop for a while now, and evidence is mounting that it can create long-term problems for companies. Yet we are hearing very little (if anything) about what businesses are doing about it. There's new research, which Neville and Shel discuss in this episode, along with some thoughts about actions companies can take. Continue Reading → The post FIR #525: The Consequences Businesses Will Face from Work Slop appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #524: Are Managers Ready to Lead an AI-Fluent Workforce?

Aug 3, 2026 8 min

Most companies are experiencing some level of turmoil over their adoption of Artificial Intelligence. They should be able to lean on their managers to interpret these issues at the ground level. Research, however, finds that training has left managers out. They may be getting some of the same training all employees are getting, but nothing... Continue Reading → The post FIR #524: Are Managers Ready to Lead an AI-Fluent Workforce? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #523: No Brand Is An Island

Jul 27, 2026 45 min

Neville has been ill and unable to record, so Shel is on his own in this episode (except for Dan York's Tech Report). This shorter-than-usual monthly long-form episode includes reports on rethinking thought leadership, maintaining "brand sovereignty" in the AI era, and whether hedging in your communication can serve a useful purpose. Dan's report was recorded in Vienna, Austria, where AI was front and center at the 126th meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force. Dan also reports on Bluesky's Attie AI feature, Instagram's plans to charge for AI access, Beehiv's new community feature, WordPress's plans for version 7.1, and some UK social media regulatory updates. Continue Reading → The post FIR #523: No Brand Is An Island appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #522: Is Podcasting 2.0 The Future of Podcasting?

Jul 13, 2026 21 min

Podcasting 2.0 is the open-source movement launched by Adam Curry and Dave Jones to preserve and extend podcasting’s open, RSS-based ecosystem. In this episode, Shel and Neville explore the initiative's core features — including the Podcast Index, enhanced RSS metadata, transcripts, chapters, podrolls, live notifications, and listener-supported “Value for Value” payments — while weighing its potential to reduce dependence on dominant platforms such as Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and YouTube. The discussion also addresses obstacles to adoption, including limited awareness, uneven support across hosting providers and apps, added complexity, and the need to demonstrate clear benefits to listeners. For communicators, the larger implications involve channel ownership, accessibility, content reuse, AI discoverability, resilience, and the risk of building audiences entirely on rented platforms. Continue Reading → The post FIR #522: Is Podcasting 2.0 The Future of Podcasting? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

AI, trust and the answer economy – Pete Blackshaw on the future of brand credibility

Jul 13, 2026 1 hr 0 min

Your brand is no longer defined solely by what you say about yourself. Increasingly, it is defined by the answers AI gives when someone asks about you. That simple but profound shift lies at the heart of The Answer Economy, the forthcoming book by Pete Blackshaw, entrepreneur, founder of BrandRank.ai, and former Global Head of Digital and Social Media at Nestlé. As AI assistants and agents become increasingly influential in how people discover information, evaluate products and make decisions, organisations face a new communications challenge. It's no longer enough to tell your story well. Your organisation also needs to be accurately understood by the AI systems that increasingly act as intermediaries between brands and the people they serve. In this FIR Interview, Pete joins Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz to discuss why AI should be viewed less as another marketing channel and more as an auditor of organisational credibility. Together, they explore why trust, transparency and evidence are becoming more important than marketing claims, how different AI models develop different perspectives on brands, why communicators need to think beyond traditional search optimisation, and what organisations can do today to prepare for an increasingly agent-driven future. For communicators, the implications are profound. Success in the answer economy won't depend on producing more content. It will depend on whether an organisation has earned the evidence, transparency and trust that AI systems increasingly use to evaluate every claim it makes. Continue Reading → The post AI, trust and the answer economy – Pete Blackshaw on the future of brand credibility appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #521: AI Layoffs Are Here. Wait. Strike That. Reverse It.

Jul 6, 2026 21 min

Everyone from CEOs to politicians has been talking about the likelihood of AI-related job loss, and several companies have already let people go in anticipation that AI can do their work. Ford Motor Company is the latest to rehire those workers when AI proved inadequate for the job. Elsewhere, many of the managers who have let people go regret their decisions, and some companies are revising their hiring plans. To remedy the chaos, Neville and Shel discuss the importance of strategy and knowledge management systems, among other things. Continue Reading → The post FIR #521: AI Layoffs Are Here. Wait. Strike That. Reverse It. appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #520: AI's PR Meltdown

Jun 29, 2026 1 hr 36 min

In the long-form FIR episode for June, Neville and Shel consider the causes and implications of surging anti-AI sentiment in the US (which is also growing in other developed countries), as well as the increasing use of "shadow AI" in organizations. Other reports include studies documenting the continued erosion of trust in mainstream news media, the growth of personal branding among communication professionals, a shocking self-inflicted reputation crisis for a UK business, and evidence that employees aren't reading your internal communications (unless maybe they are). Dan York shares information on Collections in the Mastodon 4.6 release and the W Social situation in his Tech Report. Continue Reading → The post FIR #520: AI’s PR Meltdown appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #519: Is Misinformation Biased Against You?

Jun 23, 2026 17 min

We have known about media bias effect for decades: the belief that the media is biased against your side of a debate. New research finds that the same belief applies to misinformation. While the research was focused on political issues, the underlying cause applies equally to misinformation about brands, companies, and business issues. In this short midweek episode, Neville and Shel find that the PR industry has not yet acknowledged the phenomenon, which requires strategies to address it. Continue Reading → The post FIR #519: Is Misinformation Biased Against You? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #518: Is the PR Industry Blowing It Again?

Jun 15, 2026 23 min

he history of public relations over the last 30 years is a litany of one failure after another -- failures to recognize and embrace technologies that represented seismic shifts in how people and organizations communicate. The internet. The web. Social media. Smartphones. The video shift. And now, with AI, the industry seems poised to do it again. As many organizations explore how AI will reshape them, PR agencies still seem unable to figure out billing models to replace the now-useless hourly rate. In this short midweek episode, Neville looks at a post from Stephen Waddington that laments the industry's intransigence, and Shel and Neville discuss what PR should be doing. Continue Reading → The post FIR #518: Is the PR Industry Blowing It Again? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #517: How to Communicate AI Whiplash to Employees

Jun 9, 2026 25 min

First, they were told to use AI. Experiment! Add it to your workflows! Go wild! Then the bills started piling up, and companies realized the cost was not tenable. Now the walk-backs are happening. Usage caps! Caution! Slow down! Among the issues communicators need to address is employees questioning leadership's judgment. In this short midweek episode, Shel and Neville explore approaches communicators can take to help employees understand the pivot while maintaining the perception of leader competence. Continue Reading → The post FIR #517: How to Communicate AI Whiplash to Employees appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Your New Shadow Website

Jun 2, 2026 22 min

The Economist has gone public with an experiment: it has created a shadow website featuring an AI-friendly version of its front-of-paywall content. The idea is to improve the odds of this content surfacing in AI answers and responses to AI queries. It's based on a new standard, llms.txt, which has been described as the robot.txt of AI. What does this mean for communicators? Neville and Shel break it down in this short midweek episode. Continue Reading → The post FIR #516: Your New Shadow Website appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #515: Agents Everywhere!

May 25, 2026 1 hr 47 min

Employees at the Pentagon have spun up over 100,000 AI agents. In the private sector, we're seeing reports of 10,000 or more agents being deployed by employees at a variety of companies. The problem is that most organizations lack governance to address agents, and the problems this explosion of agents operating on employees' behalf can cause are innumerable. In the long-form FIR episode for May 2026, Neville and Shel delve into the rise of agents, the harms they could cause, what companies should do to ensure these agents deliver benefits rather than problems, and how communicators can take a leading role in addressing the issue. Also in this episode: AI copyright lawsuits are coming for communicators Google's search overhaul could signal a post-citation era Placing your thought newsmakers, thought leaders, and subject matter experts on podcasts is becoming a standard media relations practice "I worked all weekend" is no longer an argument for the fees you charge Short-form video clippers are creating go-to content from long-form videos -- including yours Dan York outlines the big enhancements in WordPress 7.0 Continue Reading → The post FIR #515: Agents Everywhere appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #514: Was Twitter A One-And-Done Phenomenon?

May 19, 2026 27 min

There's a concept circulating in Platformer, the Reuters Institute, and Nieman Lab: the text-based social networks that defined the last 15 years of public communication may be in irreversible decline. Apptopia reports that Bluesky's daily users are down 96% from January 2024; Threads has lost users in seven of the past eight months (down 61% from its October 2024 peak); and X has been “culturally altered.” At its peak, was Twitter less a replicable product category than a unique moment in media history? The mass audience has moved to short-form video, algorithmic feeds reward attention over the social graph, and platforms increasingly refuse to be referral engines. Text still thrives in newsletters, Reddit, Discord, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and AI chat interfaces — what's collapsing isn't text, but giant algorithmic public feeds. Neville and Shel look at what this means for communicators: the promise of scale is giving way to relevance, trust, and consistency — a shift that requires a different approach to brand presence on social. Get details in this not-so-short midweek FIR episode. Continue Reading → The post FIR #514: Was Twitter A One-And-Done Phenomenon? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #513: Why Communications Must Build the Narrative Code for the Agentic Age

May 11, 2026 34 min

Neville and Shel dig into a provocative Harvard Business Review article that argues most marketing teams are structurally unprepared for the speed and scale that agentic AI now enables. The bottleneck, the authors contend, isn't the technology; it's the operating model. Neville and Shel connect the piece to conversations FIR has been having for the past year: AI as orchestration rather than automation, professionals shifting from supervisors of tasks to directors of systems, and 2026 increasingly framed as “the year of the agent.” At the center of the Harvard piece is the idea of a “brand code” — a machine-readable knowledge system that lets specialized AI agents continuously create, adapt, test, and optimize marketing in real time. Communications urgently needs its own equivalent: a “narrative code” containing executive voice profiles, message hierarchies, sensitive-topic guardrails, and escalation rules. Whoever builds it first, he warns, will inherit the agentic stack, and if marketing gets there first, comms will be stuck with a system never designed for crisis, controversy, or stakeholder complexity. The episode also includes some concrete examples and early thoughts on Hermes, Wispr Flow, and where human judgment still has to win. Continue Reading → The post FIR #513: Why Communications Must Build the Narrative Code for the Agentic Age appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #512: The AI Shift in Executive Decision-Making

May 4, 2026 31 min

While there's no evidence that business leaders are outsourcing the most important decisions to AI, there are reports that many executives are relying on AI to make many -- in fact, most -- of their decisions. The implications for communications could be huge. Continue Reading → The post FIR #512: The AI Shift in Executive Decision-Making appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Doing AI Governance Right and Still Getting it Wrong

Apr 27, 2026 1 hr 33 min

The policies are clear and well communicated. The guardrails are firmly established. Every last employee has been trained. And someone in your organization still releases a public document riddled with AI-generated errors. What went wrong has nothing to do with technology and everything to do with internal culture and accountability. In this long-form April episode, Neville and Shel examine a company that seemingly took all the right steps yet still had to apologize publicly for a court filing riddled with hallucinated citations. Also in this episode: Gartner predicts that, by 2028, 75% of employees will rely on an internal chatbot to get the news that matters to them. How will internal communicators need to rethink their role to ensure everyone knows and understands what they should in order to achieve strategic alignment? One of the promises AI executives have made is a leveling of the playing field, giving lower-level employees the opportunity to excel and rise through the ranks. According to one new study, exactly the opposite has been happening. PR hacks have been accelerating the pace at which they churn out press releases and pitches. That has raised the bar for what it takes to earn a journalist's trust (and journalists do still rely on press releases, according to a survey of reporters). Apple's announcement of its CEO transition offers communicators a clinic on how to announce a new top executive. "Slopaganda" from Iran has proven remarkably effective, which means it is undoubtedly coming for your company or clients soon. In his Tech Report, Dan York outlines big changes coming with WordPress's next update. Continue Reading → The post FIR #511: Doing AI Governance Right and Still Getting It Wrong appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #510: Should Companies Embrace Shadow AI?

Apr 21, 2026 25 min

Employees have long found ways to use software tools to get the job done, even when those tools are not approved. It's called Shadow IT, but ever since generative Artificial Intelligence hit the scene in 2022, employees have adopted a new version: Shadow AI. The company approves Microsoft Co-Pilot, but employees opt to use their smartphones or personal laptops, along with their personal accounts with ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Midjourney, or whatever best suits their needs. For most companies, this is a problem that needs to be addressed through repeated policy announcements and vigorous crackdowns. One company, though, took a different approach. In this short, midweek FIR episode, Neville and Shel outline what the company did and how communicators might advocate for a version of this approach to aiding in AI adoption and speeding up productivity gains. Continue Reading → The post FIR #510: Should Companies Embrace Shadow AI? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #509: Does Corporate Content Need Copyright Protection?

Apr 14, 2026 20 min

When bad actors use AI tools to clone a musician's voice and upload synthetic versions of their songs, they can then file copyright claims against the original artist's content — and win, at least initially. That's because the systems platforms use to validate copyright claims are automated and configured to treat whoever files first as the rightful holder. The result: musicians like Murphy Campbell, a folk artist from North Carolina, lose both revenue and control of their own creative identity. The same mechanism works just as well against any organization that publishes audio or video content online. In this midweek episode, Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson break down how the scam works, why it matters to communicators, and what you should be doing right now — before an incident forces your hand. Continue Reading → The post FIR #509: Does Corporate Content Need Copyright Protection? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #508: Inside AI's Human Raw Material Supply Chain

Apr 8, 2026 20 min

When workers lose their jobs, many turn to gig work to earn income while waiting for new opportunities. Increasingly, companies that hire gig workers are shifting from delivering food or sharing rides to creating content to train AI systems. This raises various communication and ethical issues. Neville and Shel explain what's happening and discuss the implications in this short midweek episode. Continue Reading → The post FIR #508: Inside AI’s Human Raw Material Supply Chain appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #507: Should Nobody Really Ever Write with AI?

Mar 30, 2026 25 min

Take a stroll through LinkedIn. You'll find no shortage of posts stridently deriding the notion that anyone should ever use AI to write for them. While that case isn't hard to make for professional writers, there are countless professionals in other fields who struggle with writing, never trained to be writers, yet now have to write everything from emails to reports as part of their jobs. Should they really sweat for hours over wording, time they could be devoting to the core areas of subject expertise, when AI can produce content that is cogent, clear, and direct? In this short mid-week episode, Neville and Shel look at the trends in using AI for writing, despite the plethora of opinions from the pundits. Continue Reading → The post FIR #507: Should Nobody Really Ever Write with AI? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #506: Battle of the Bots!

Mar 23, 2026 1 hr 42 min

In this monthly long-form episode for March, Neville and Shel tackle a trio of interconnected themes reshaping the communications profession in the age of AI. The conversation opens with Anthropic’s top lawyer declaring that AI will destroy the billable hour. That thread leads naturally into JP Morgan’s controversial use of digital monitoring to verify junior bankers’ working hours, where Shel and Neville question whether surveillance technology can substitute for genuine managerial trust and engagement. The episode also examines Gartner’s widely circulated prediction that PR budgets will double by 2027 as AI search engines favor earned media. Shel delivers a detailed report on the escalating misinformation crisis, citing a 900% surge in global deepfake incidents and new research from the C2PA on content provenance standards. The episode closes with a discussion of Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince’s prediction that bot traffic will exceed human traffic by 2027, and a sobering peer-reviewed study on how social bots hijack organizational messaging — research reported by Bob Pickard, who has experienced bot-driven attacks firsthand. Dan York also contributes a tech report on the state of the Fediverse and Mastodon, as well as on AI developments for WordPress. Continue Reading → The post FIR #506: Battle of the Bots! appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #505: Social Media's Big Shift

Mar 17, 2026 21 min

In FIR #505, Neville and Shel dig into Hootsuite's Social Media Trends 2026 report, which argues that social media is no longer just a communication channel — it's morphing into a search engine, cultural radar, and real-time research tool. They explore what it means for communicators when younger audiences treat TikTok and Instagram as their primary discovery platforms, and when Google itself starts indexing social content. The conversation also tackles "fastvertising" — the growing pressure on brands to react to cultural moments within hours — and whether that speed actually translates to bottom-line results or just burnout. The discussion takes a provocative turn when Shel raises Ethan Mollick's warning that public forums are being systematically overrun by machine-generated content, with research suggesting one in five accounts in public conversations may be automated. They weigh the AI paradox facing communicators: generative AI has become table stakes for social media production, yet 30% of consumers say they're less likely to choose a brand whose ads they know were AI-created. Neville and Shel agree that social media can serve as both a publishing channel and a listening tool — but only if human-to-human communication can survive the rising tide of bot-generated noise. Continue Reading → The post FIR #505: Social Media’s Big Shift appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #504: When Companies Blame Layoffs on AI -- and Leave Communicators Holding the Bag

Mar 10, 2026 22 min

Shel and Neville examine a troubling trend gaining momentum across corporate America: AI washing — the practice of attributing layoffs to artificial intelligence when the real reasons are more complex. The discussion centers on two high-profile cases. Block CEO Jack Dorsey announced a 40 percent workforce reduction, crediting AI tools, despite three prior rounds of cuts that had nothing to do with AI and pushback from former employees who say the moves look like standard cost management. Meanwhile, Oracle is cutting thousands of jobs, not because AI replaced those workers, but to fund a massive data center expansion that Wall Street projects won't generate positive cash flow until 2030. Meanwhile, a new Anthropic labor market study adds context, finding limited evidence that AI has meaningfully displaced workers to date—though hiring of younger workers in exposed occupations may be slowing. Neville and Shel dig into what this means for communicators who may be asked to craft layoff messaging that overstates AI's role. Continue Reading → The post FIR #504: When Companies Blame Layoffs on AI — and Leave Communicators Holding the Bag appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #503: When Your Boss Throws You Under the Bus

Mar 2, 2026 17 min

The president of the International Olympic Committee didn't have an answer to a question posed to her at a press conference on the final day of the 2026 Winter Olympics. Or to another question. Or to yet another. Ultimately, she suggested, on camera, that someone on her communications team should be fired. In this short midweek FIR episode, Shel and Neville look at the fallout, what both the president and the head of communications might have done differently, and the possible long-term consequences. Continue Reading → The post FIR #503: When Your Boss Throws You Under the Bus appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #502: Attack of the AI Agent!

Feb 23, 2026 1 hr 44 min

In the February long-form episode of FIR, Shel and Neville dive deep into an AI-heavy landscape, exploring how rapidly accelerating technology is reshaping the communications profession—from autonomous agents with "attitudes" to the evolving ROI of podcasting. The show kicks off with a chilling "milestone" moment: an autonomous AI coding agent that publicly shamed a human developer after its code contribution was rejected. Also in this episode: Accenture's move to monitor how often senior employees log into internal AI systems, making "regular adoption" a factor in promotion to managing director. The "2026 Change Communication X-ray" study reveals a record 30-point gap between management satisfaction and employee satisfaction with change comms. The PRCA has proposed a new definition of PR, positioning it as a strategic management discipline focused on trust and complexity. However, Neville notes the industry reaction has been muted, with critics arguing the definition doesn't reflect the majority of agency work. Shel expresses skepticism that any single definition will be adopted without a global consensus. Addressing a provocative claim that corporate podcast ROI is impossible to prove, Shel and Neville argue that the problem lies in measuring the wrong things. They advocate for moving beyond "vanity metrics" like downloads and instead tying podcasts to concrete business goals like lead generation, recruitment, and brand trust. As consumers increasingly turn to LLMs for product recommendations, brands are "wooing the robots" to ensure they are cited accurately in AI responses. Neville asks if we are witnessing a structural shift in reputation or just another optimization cycle. In his Tech Report, Dan York explains why Bluesky is having trouble adding an edit feature, Russia's blocking of Meta properties, criticism of Australia's teen social media ban from Snapchat's CEO, YouTube's protections for teen users, and more on teen social media bans. Continue Readin...

AI and the Rise of the $400K Storyteller

Feb 16, 2026 21 min

AI isn't replacing communicators -- it's amplifying the value of communication, especially storytelling and strategic writing. In this short, midweek FIR episode, Neville and Shel explore how the hottest jobs in tech are increasingly about telling stories, not writing code, with Netflix, Microsoft, Adobe, Anthropic, and OpenAI all hiring communications and storytelling teams at salaries ranging from six figures up to $775,000 per year. Even AI labs themselves are posting compensation packages around $400K for storytelling and communications roles, signaling that they understand the irreplaceable human value of meaning-making in an age of automated content generation. The distinction Neville and Shel highlight between traditional messaging and true storytelling proves critical: conventional communications start with what the brand wants to say, while storytelling starts with what audiences actually care about. The strongest communicators will be those who move beyond prescriptive messaging to tell genuine human stories. Continue Reading → The post FIR #501: AI and the Rise of the $400K Storyteller appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

When Harassment Policies Meet Deepfakes

Feb 9, 2026 19 min

AI has shifted from being purely a productivity story to something far more uncomfortable. Not because the technology became malicious, but because it's now being used in ways that expose old behaviors through entirely new mechanics. An article in HR Director Magazine argues that AI-enabled workplace abuse -- particularly deepfakes -- should be treated as workplace harm, not dismissed as gossip, humor, or something that happens outside of work. When anyone can generate realistic images or audio of a colleague in minutes and circulate them instantly, the targeted person is left trying to disprove something that never happened, even though it feels documented. That flips the burden of proof in ways most organizations aren't prepared to handle. What makes this a communication issue -- not just an HR or IT issue -- is that the harm doesn't stop with the creator. It spreads through sharing, commentary, laughter, and silence. People watch closely how leaders respond, and what they don't say can signal tolerance just as loudly as what they do. In this episode, Neville and Shel explore what communicators can do before something happens: helping organizations explicitly name AI-enabled abuse, preparing leaders for that critical first conversation, and reinforcing standards so that, when trust is tested, people already know where the organization stands. Continue Reading → The post FIR #500: When Harassment Policies Meet Deepfakes appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #499: When Saying Nothing Sends the Wrong Message

Feb 2, 2026 21 min

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) responded to member requests for a statement about the federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota with a letter explaining why the organization would remain silent. In this short midweek episode, Neville and Shel outline the key points in the letter, where they disagree, and how they might have responded. Continue Reading → The post FIR #499: When Saying Nothing Sends the Wrong Message appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

AI risk, trust, and preparedness in a polycrisis era

Jan 29, 2026 46 min

In this FIR Interview, Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz speak with crisis and risk communication specialist Philippe Borremans about his new Crisis Communication 2026 Trend Report, based on a survey of senior crisis and communication leaders. The conversation explores how crisis communication is evolving in an era defined by polycrisis, declining trust, and accelerating AI-driven risk – and why many organisations remain dangerously underprepared despite growing awareness of these threats. Drawing on real-world examples, including recent AI-amplified reputation crises, Philippe outlines where organisations are falling short and what communicators can do now to close the gap between awareness and action. Continue Reading → The post AI risk, trust, and preparedness in a polycrisis era appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #498: Can Business Be a Trust Broker in Today's Insulated Society?

Jan 26, 2026 1 hr 51 min

The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer focuses squarely on "a crisis of insularity." The world's largest independent PR agency suggests only business is in a position to be a trust broker in this environment. While the Trust Barometer's data offers valuable insights, Neville and Shel suggest it be viewed through the lens of critical thinking. After all, who is better positioned to counsel businesses on how to be a trust broker than a PR agency? Also in this episode: Research shows employee adoption of AI is low, especially in non-tech organizations like retail and manufacturing, and among lower-level employees. CEOs insist that AI is making work more efficient. Do employees agree? Organizations believe deeply in the importance of alignment. So why aren't employees aligned any more today than they were eight years ago? Mark Zuckerberg changed the name of his company to reflect its commitment to the metaverse. These days, the metaverse doesn't figure much in Zuckerberg's thinking In his Tech Report, Dan York reflects on Wikipedia's 25th anniversary. Continue Reading → The post FIR #498: Can Business Be a Trust Broker in Today’s Insulated Society? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #497: CEOs Wrest Control of AI

Jan 19, 2026 21 min

The latest BCG AI Radar survey signals a definitive turning point: AI has graduated from a tech-driven experiment to a CEO-owned strategic mandate. As corporate investments double, a striking "confidence gap" is emerging between optimistic leaders in the corner office and the more skeptical teams tasked with implementation. With the rapid rise of Agentic AI — autonomous systems that execute complex workflows rather than just generating text — the focus is shifting from simple productivity gains to a total overhaul of culture and operating models. In this episode, Neville and Shel examine this evolution that places communicators at the center of a high-stakes transition as AI moves from a pilot phase into end-to-end organizational transformation. Continue Reading → The post FIR #497: CEOs Wrest Control of AI appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #496: A Proposed New Definition of Public Relations Sparks Debate

Jan 14, 2026 18 min

Neville and Shel dive into the ambitious new definition of public relations proposed by the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA). Sparked by a two-and-a-half-page draft that reframes the discipline as a senior strategic management function, Shel and Neville debate whether this comprehensive document serves as a vital "PR for PR" or if its length and academic tone move it closer to a manifesto than a practical, portable definition. The conversation explores the proposal’s emphasis on organizational legitimacy, its explicit inclusion of AI’s role in the information ecosystem, and the ongoing challenge of establishing a unified professional standard that resonates across the global communications industry. Continue Reading → The post FIR #496: A Proposed New Definition of Public Relations Sparks Debate appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR's 21st Anniversary

Jan 5, 2026 7 min

In which Neville and Shel take a few minutes to acknowledge FIR's 21st birthday. Continue Reading → The post FIR 21st Anniversary Celebration appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #495: Reddit, AI, and the New Rules for Communications

Jan 5, 2026 26 min

Reddit, the #2 social media site in the US, just surpassed TikTok to assume the #4 slot in the UK. It has no algorithm forcing you to see what's most likely to keep you on the site; just users upvoting what they think is most interesting, valuable, or relevant. Every topic under the sun has a subreddit. Several organizations, from Starbucks to Uber, have taken advantage of it. So why is it absent from most communicators' list of social media platforms to pay attention to? Neville and Shel look at Reddit's growing influence in this episode. Continue Reading → The post FIR #495: Reddit, AI, and the New Rules of Communication appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #494: Is News's Future Error-Riddled AI-Generated Podcasts, or "Information Stewards"?

Dec 29, 2025 1 hr 39 min

In the long-form episode for December 2025, Neville and Shel explore the future of news from two perspectives, including The Washington Post's ill-advised launch of a personalized, AI-generated podcast that failed to meet the newsroom's standards for accuracy, and the shift from journalists to "information stewards" as news sources. Also in this episode: WPP founder Sir Martin Sorrell argued that PR is dead and advertising rules all. Is AI about to empty Madison Avenue Should communicators do anything about AI slop? No, you can't tell when something was written by AI In Dan York's tech report: Mastodon's founder steps back, and new leadership takes over; the UN reaffirms a model of Internet governance that involves everyone: and Dan talks about what he'll be watching in 2026, including decentralized social media, agentic AI, and Internet technologies. Continue Reading → The post FIR #494: Is News’s Future Error-Riddled AI-Generated Podcasts, or “Information Stewards”? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #493: How to (Unethically) Manufacture Significance and Influence

Dec 22, 2025 21 min

For somebody who posts on X or other social media platforms to become recognized by the media and other offline institutions as a significant, influential voice worth quoting, it usually takes patience and hard work to build an audience that respects and identifies with them. There is another way to achieve the same kind of reputation with far less work. According to a research report from the Network Contagion Research Institute, American political influencer Nick Fuentes opted for the second approach, a collection of tactics that made it appear like a huge number of people were amplifying his tweets within half an hour of posting them. While Fuentes wields his influence in the political realm, the tactics he employed are portable and available to people looking for the same quick solution in the business world. In this short midweek episode, we'll break down the steps involved and the warning signs communicators should be on the alert for. Continue Reading → The post FIR #493: How to (Unethically) Manufacture Significance and Influence appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #492: The Authenticity Divide in Omnicom Layoff Communication

Dec 15, 2025 19 min

In this short midweek episode, Shel and Neville dissect the communication fallout from the $13.5 billion Omnicom-IPG merger and the controversial pre-holiday layoff of 4,000 employees. Among the themes they discuss: the stark contrast between the polished corporate narrative aimed at investors and the raw, real-time reality shared by staff on LinkedIn and Reddit, illustrating how organizations have lost control of the narrative. Against the backdrop of a corporate surge in hiring "storytellers," Neville and Shel discuss the irony of failing to empower the workforce — the brand's most authentic narrators — and analyze the long-term reputational damage caused by tone-deaf leadership during a crisis. Continue Reading → The post FIR #492: The Authenticity Divide in Omnicom Layoff Communication appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

AI and the Writing Profession with Josh Bernoff

Dec 10, 2025 58 min

Josh Bernoff has just completed the largest survey yet of writers and AI – nearly 1,500 respondents across journalism, communication, publishing, and fiction. We interviewed Josh for this podcast in early December 2025. What emerges from both the data and our conversation is not a single, simple story, but a deep divide. Writers who actively use AI increasingly see it as a powerful productivity tool. They research faster, brainstorm more effectively, build outlines more quickly, and free themselves up to focus on the work only humans can do well – judgement, originality, voice, and storytelling. The most advanced users report not only higher output, but improvements in quality and, in many cases, higher income. Non-users experience something very different. For many non-users, AI feels unethical, environmentally harmful, creatively hollow, and a direct threat to their livelihoods. The emotional language used by some respondents in Josh’s survey reflects just how personal and existential these fears have become. And yet, across both camps, there is striking agreement on key risks. Writers on all sides are concerned about hallucinations and factual errors, copyright and training data, and the growing volume of bland, generic “AI slop” that now floods digital channels. In our conversation, Josh argues that the real story is not one of wholesale replacement, but of re-sorting. AI is not eliminating writers outright. It is separating those who adapt from those who resist – and in the process reshaping what it now means to be a trusted communicator, editor, and storyteller. Continue Reading → The post AI and the Writing Profession with Josh Bernoff appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #491: Deloitte's AI Verification Failures

Dec 9, 2025 14 min

Big Four consulting firm Deloitte submitted two costly reports to two governments on opposite sides of the globe, each containing fake resources generated by AI. Deloitte isn't alone. A study published on the website of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) not only included AI-hallucinated citations but also purported to reach the exact opposite conclusion from the real scientists' research. In this short midweek episode, Neville and Shel reiterate the importance of a competent human in the loop to verify every fact produced in any output that leverages generative AI. Continue Reading → The post FIR #491: Deloitte’s AI Verification Failures appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

FIR #490: What is AI Reading?

Dec 1, 2025 22 min

Studies purport to identify the sources of information that generative AI models like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude draw on to provide overviews in response to search prompts. The information seems compelling, but different studies produce different results. Complicating matters is the fact that the kinds of sources AI uses one month aren't necessarily the same the next month. In this short midweek episode, Neville and Shel look at a couple of these reports and the challenges communicators face relying on them to help guide their content marketing placements. Continue Reading → The post FIR #490: What Does AI Read? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

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FIR #535: Communicating in the Wake of Big Tech's Big Political Gamble

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Podcast details

Created by: Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz
Status: Active
Latest episode: Nov 12, 2026
Episodes: 50
Release period: Weekly
Avg. episode length: 38 min
Explicit: No

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