Your PR Architect

I use an ad blocker, and probably you do, too. Every day, even on websites where I pay a monthly subscription fee, I see a pop-up that say: "We Notice You Are Using an Ad Blocker." And they ask me to turn it off. I don't. I'm already paying for that news website's reporting. Their hands are already in my pocket. And, truth is, I don't mind digital ads that are somewhat relevant to my tastes. Show me an ad for a guitar deal or Ford car parts, and I'll probably read it. Screen shot, unnamed Gannett publication, Sept. 2018 But I don't care about Patrick Swayze's secret son. Or what forgotten 1970s actress Loni Anderson looks like today. (I was more of a Howard Hesseman /Dr. Johnny Fever fan, anyway.) When newspapers relied on print ad revenue, I'd glance at those ads -- and sometimes, I'd bite -- because those ads were for local or regional merchants. They wanted to build a relationship with me.  They didn't try

This week, I received a message alerting me that the digital sky is falling. It read, in part: The entire digital ecosystem is in crisis — a crisis of trust.  Ecosystem Backyard, by Cedrick May from Wikimedia Commons From issues of brand safety, to growing cries of "fake news," to a slew of personal data breaches across the web, it's clear that trust in the digital industry has eroded considerably, affecting every marketer at brands, agencies, social platforms and beyond.  Do you feel prepared to combat the challenges of trust facing the digital industry? If you're unsure, let's talk about ...  You get the idea. The research sales rep who sent this dire warning is promoting his "insights, forecasts and data they can trust on digital marketing, media and commerce." And perhaps there's value in such an offering. Truth is, I'm disenchanted at the assumption that there's a digital ecosystem.  It's one of those biological phras

It's hard to know what last week's Facebook announcements will mean to consumers of news. But, that's largely because Facebook isn't entirely clear where news content will emerge on users' news feeds. (Which now must be called something else.) For a few years, I've asked undergraduates where they get their news. The top response: from social media. (For a while, many said they got their news from Jon Stewart until he departed from The Daily Show faux news desk.) Now that's changing. Last week, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg told consumers that the social medium's algorithm would now serve up "friends and family"-generated content ahead of news stories from publishers. The goal, he suggested, is more meaningful interactions -- and, by omission, fewer firestorms erupting from fake news generated by purveyors of pretend news. Why change? Zuckerberg wants no more to do with a cascade of political propagandists. The angry disputes they gen