Scott Monty

Facebook Needs Humans

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[<i>Note: I typically post the transcript to my podcast episodes two weeks following the airing of the shows, but this was so topical, I bumped it up.</i>]<br />
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Have you noticed anything different about the Trending section on Facebook? That is, if you even paid attention to the Trending section in the first place…<br />
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Back in May, <a href="http://www.scottmonty.com/2016/05/the-full-monty-may-16-2016.html">we shared reports</a> that Facebook was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/12/facebook-trending-news-leaked-documents-editor-guidelines">supposedly suppressing conservative news topics</a> in the Trending section. This was <a href="http://gizmodo.com/former-facebook-workers-we-routinely-suppressed-conser-1775461006">according to the team of "news curators"</a> that Facebook hired to oversee the feature. The process gave them access to a topics that were generated via Facebook’s algorithm, which determined which news stories would be shown to users in the Trending section. The curators then wrote headlines and summaries of each topic, with links to news sites.<br />
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Facebook <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/05/09/facebook-accused-of-censoring-conservative-news-articles/84151894/">denied that such activity was happening</a> — at least not intentionally — and even hosted a number of prominent conservatives at its Palo Alto headquarters for an open discussion about its practices and how to improve. Later, the company provided "bias training" to employees to ensure the fairness of the Facebook platform.<br />
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But it was clear from the arrangement that the group was operating like something of a news room rather an agnostic machine. In fact, the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/16/technology/social-media-finds-new-roles-as-news-and-entertainment-curators.html?_r=0">New York Times even reported</a> that:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Most major social media platforms have, in recent years, amassed editorial teams of their own, groups that select, tame and fill gaps in the material produced by users and media companies."</blockquote>
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Well, all of that has come to an abrupt halt, when <a href="http://qz.com/768122/facebook-fires-human-editors-moves-to-algorithm-for-trending-topics/">Facebook suddenly fired all of its human editors</a>. The team of "news curators," as they were known internally, was contracted from a third party and was notified at 4 pm on Friday that Facebook no longer had use for their services. The new machine-based Trending section debuted at 5 pm.<br />
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Facebook says that is goal is "to enable Trending for as many people as possible," as they should discover interesting and relevant conversations happening on Facebook. The company says that it would be unable to do that at scale by employing people, and thus has resorted to its algorithm to identify and share the Trending topics.<br />
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This means that no two Trending sections will be alike. What you see, what your coworkers see, what your family sees, what I see — all will be personalized to our own interests and likings. While this might seem beneficial, moving toward an era of content personalization that many consumers have sought, it also seems unintuitive, so that stories that are truly trending may not make it to our list.  <br />
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And if you look at the way the Trending section works with Facebook's artificial intelligence, you'll see that the topic is only identified by title; there is no news summary or context around why it is trending — only how many people are talking about it. One of the great values of curation is the ability to contextualize and analyze the news — something I do with <a href="http://fullmontyshow.com/newsletter">The Full Monty newsletter</a> every week. Without this, we're left with a Trending section that is about as useful as the one we see on Twitter. And we're already beginning to see the results <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/29/facebook-fires-trending-topics-team-algorithm" target="_blank">as fake news creeps into the trends</a>. Even Facebook's news curation team <a href="http://digiday.com/platforms/former-facebook-trending-news-editor-just-going-get-rid-product-altogether/" target="_blank">saw the writing on the wall</a>.<br />
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The world is moving to a point where machines will replace a number of human functions in the workplace. Think of it as the automation of everything. While the eventuality is virtually inevitable, that doesn't mean that it's easy for humans to hear or even to experience firsthand.<br />
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We just heard that Uber's goal of automating its fleet will make human drivers superfluous, which <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/19/uber-self-driving-pittsburgh-what-drivers-think">surprised some of those drivers</a>. One lamented to a reporter: “It feels like we’re just rentals. We’re kind of like placeholders until the technology comes out.”<br />
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Just because we're removing humans from business functions doesn't mean we have to be completely emotionless about it. Yes, the move may be necessary. But you could at least do it in a humane way.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Automation is predicted to stay,<br />
The future's already here today,<br />
  There's one missing part -<br />
  Machines can't learn heart<br />
So emotions won't get in the way</blockquote>
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<b>Bonus:</b> if you'd like an eerie object lesson in how this was predicted 55 years ago, watch <i>The Twilight Zone</i> episode "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HG2ZI2/ref=atv_piv_owned?_encoding=UTF8&imdbref_tt_wbr_pivt=0m0stag%3Dimdbtag_tt_wbr_piv-20">The Brain Center at Whipple's</a>," from Season 5, in which a heartless CEO completely automates his factory and lays off almost all of his workers over the objections of his employees.<br />
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What do you think? Was this a colossal mistake? Or will Facebook adapt to a human-lite approach?<br />
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<b><i>If you liked this commentary, you can listen to it in my podcast <a href="http://fullmontyshow.com/show" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Full Monty</a>. Subscribe <a href="http://fullmontyshow.com/subscribe" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">via email</a> or on <a href="http://smonty.co/fullmontyitunes" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen?t=The_Full_Monty&utm_content=buffer2143a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer&u=0&view=/ps/Iy3ehvkts2zousixune2kwgmhl4" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;">Google Play</a>, <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=96004&refid=stpr" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;">Stitcher</a>, <a href="http://www.spreaker.com/show/the-full-monty_1" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;">Spreaker</a> or <a href="http://soundcloud.com/fullmontyshow" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;">SoundCloud</a>.</i></b></h4>
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Facebook Needs Humans

[ Note: I typically post the transcript to my podcast episodes two weeks following the airing of the shows, but this was so topical, I bu...

Do You Do Any Work?

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If you're online, you've probably come across your fair share of social media "gurus." You know them — the self-professed arbiters of knowledge about the latest craze like Twitter, Pokemon Go or the like. The folks that are all over every channel, posting their Snapcode on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and any other platform that will have them — to build up their numbers on Snapchat.<br />
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And any time a new app comes out or a new feature is released on an existing platform, there they are. Like Pavlov's dog, salivating over them like the flavor of the week. And they're all over it with how-to videos, blog posts livestreams, webinars — ready to tell you <b><i>everything</i></b> you could possibly need to know about this great thing that was released… yesterday.<br />
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But there are a few things to note about this behavior that are worth pointing out. I'll outline what they are and articulate what you need to look for in a business counselor as you select your trusted partners.<br />
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<b>People who make it their business to be known for making it their business to be known</b></h2>
First, this notion of being an "expert" or a "guru." It's one thing I've never embraced. Maybe I'm old school, but I'm of the belief that expert status is something that is conferred upon you by your peers. It's something that is earned by doing the work and immersing yourself in a field of study. Malcolm Gladwell famously said that it takes 10,000 hours of dedicated practice to become world-class in any field of study. So when the world of social media was fairly new and we suddenly had a whole group of "experts," it wasn't because they put in the time, certainly.<br />
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Now, I'm not saying that any of these people are not talented, or that they're out to mislead anyone. They're very generous with their willingness to share knowledge and help others see their point of view. We need more of that.<br />
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But we also need some level-headed approach to the digital industry — particularly if we believe digital deserves a seat at the executive table.<br />
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Which brings me to my second point. These immediate knee-jerk reactions to product developments can be more detrimental than helpful. Yes, we need to be early adopters, but this breathless and uncritical commentary about new apps or platforms is not only tiresome, but it can potentially damage reputations. Reputations of the individuals who are so worked up over yesterday's development, and reputations of their colleagues in the field who are taking a more deliberate and considered approach.<br />
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When your aim is to show how smart you are by being first out the door, more often times than not, you sound silly. You sound like you're trying to prove something — to your peers, to your boss, to yourself. In such cases, you'd be better served to wait it out and "let the old earth take a couple of whirls," as Frank Sinatra sang in "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjiVbaA1-sc" target="_blank">September Song</a>."<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
When I was a young man courting the girls<br />
I played me a waiting game<br />
If a maid refused me with tossing curls<br />
I'd let the old Earth make a couple of whirls<br />
While I plied her with tears in lieu of pearls<br />
And as time came around she came my way<br />
As time came around, she came</blockquote>
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<b>The power of silence</b></h2>
One of the most sage bits of business advice I ever received was from Andy Ferrara, a boss 15 years ago. As the CEO, Andy sat in company meetings, fairly stoic, letting everyone speak who was seated around the long marble-topped table in the executive conference room. It was only toward the end of the meeting that he would say something, and his insights were always profound.<br />
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Perhaps they were profound because he spoke quietly and deliberately. More likely, it's because he had the time to take everything in, to listen to the conversations happening and to observe the body language around the room. It gave him time to piece together different viewpoints and to formulate his own response. His advice was to do just as he did: observe and listen, and wait until others have spoken to add your own perspective. It shows maturity and gravitas and confidence, and is likely to be greeted with greater consideration by the individuals to whom you're speaking. <br />
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Understanding trends and how new technologies fit into a strategic business plan takes thoughtfulness and a degree of analysis. And that doesn't come — or at least doesn't <i>appear</i> to happen — from a Slideshare deck created within 12 hours of the launch of a new product.<br />
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And while we're at it, who has time to create this kind of content on the fly, when they're gainfully employed? A number of these so-called "gurus" claim to work for an organization, and yet the only updates I see from them are their advice and self-serving posts about these platforms, whether it's live video, Instagram Stories, Snapchat or the like. I rarely see any of them sharing anything about the company they work for, or the progress that their teams have made — even when these individuals are supposed evangelists or marketing leaders for their companies. <br />
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My time at a Fortune 10 company was largely spent telling the company's story and ensuring people knew why I was so proud to work there. During that time I also shared my own perspective on things, but never let it overshadow or interfere with my primary responsibility. It's a balance. And I'm not so sure it's one that's being struck effectively by today's up-and-coming experts.<br />
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Perhaps they need more role models. If you look around, a number of them all seem to be quoting the same small group of individuals. A diversity of thought, experience and reading sources may go a long way to helping the next generation of leaders. And don't even get me started on <i>the ones who quote <b>themselves</b> in their own social media posts</i>.<br />
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There's nothing wrong with sharing what you know. Just as there's nothing wrong with being known as an expert. But simply sharing what you know for the purpose being considered an expert is when things start to get a little convoluted.<br />
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If you're an expert, that will be evident. </div>
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If you're overly self-promotional, that will be evident too.<br />
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<b><i>If you liked this commentary and the previous one, you can listen to them in my new podcast <a href="http://fullmontyshow.com/show" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Full Monty</a>. Subscribe <a href="http://fullmontyshow.com/subscribe" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">via email</a> or on <a href="http://smonty.co/fullmontyitunes" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen?t=The_Full_Monty&utm_content=buffer2143a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer&u=0&view=/ps/Iy3ehvkts2zousixune2kwgmhl4" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;">Google Play</a>, <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=96004&refid=stpr" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;">Stitcher</a>, <a href="http://www.spreaker.com/show/the-full-monty_1" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;">Spreaker</a> or <a href="http://soundcloud.com/fullmontyshow" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;">SoundCloud</a>.</i></b></h4>
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<i>Image credit: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APavlov's_dog_conditioning.svg" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a></i><br />
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Do You Do Any Work?

If you're online, you've probably come across your fair share of social media "gurus." You know them — the self-profess...

Were Those the Modern or Ancient Olympics?

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It's always amusing when some well-intentioned bureaucrat tries to bend the will of the Internet to their own way. The latest examples hail from none other than the IOC - the International Olympic Committee, amid the 2016 Rio Olympics.<br />
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It all began early the week before the Olympics began, when there was a dress rehearsal for the opening ceremonies, with 3,000 people in attendance. Before the event began, <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/isso-e-o-que-podemos-esperar-da-abertura-da-olimpiada-2016-1?utm_term=.rdar3lZ3e#.rlDoN1lNZ" target="_blank">the crowd was warned not to take any photographs</a>.<br />
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As you can imagine, that's all the encouragement they needed. Within minutes, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram were flooded with preview images of the opening show. I guess the organizers never heard of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect">Streisand Effect</a>. <br />
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If you're not familiar with the Streisand Effect, it's when you attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information and it has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely. It's named for Barbra Streisand, who attempted to suppress photographs of her home in Malibu in 2003 and inadvertently drew further public attention to it.<br />
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Now, before we go any further, two things: One, I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV. Two, Many of the larger sporting events, such as the Super Bowl and World Series, do have advertising guidelines that prohibit brands from mentioning the names of these events on social media. They reserve those rights for brands who are paying for sponsorships.<br />
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However: they don't restrict the use of the names for members of the press, who are freely reporting on the events.<br />
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Well, things got a little tricky with the Olympics this week. Because NBC is the official broadcast partner of the Rio Olympics, the IOC has cracked down on exactly what can be shared and by whom. First, you'll note that NBC isn't providing any livestreaming content. Even after the big launch of Facebook's Live video, the network is still driving people to its television programming. Why? To get you to watch the ads, of course!<br />
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This isn't anything new. While there may be additional platforms on which to share the content (cough, Snapchat, cough), NBC and the IOC are behaving <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/07/27/nbc-ioc-share-olympics/#fwKfIPJXW5qo">exactly as they did</a> at the London Olympics <i><b>FOUR YEARS AGO</b></i>.<br />
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Only this time around, the IOC wasn't taking any chances with its policy. Here's the statement on <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/4/12379224/olympics-rio-2016-gifs-rules-policy">News Access Rules Applicable to the Broadcast of the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, Rio de Janiero, 5 August 2016</a>: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Olympic Material must not be broadcast on interactive services such as 'news active' or 'sports active' or any other related Video on Demand services, which would allow the viewer to make a viewing choice within a channel and to thereby view Olympic Material at times and programs other than when broadcast as part of a News Program as set out in Clause 1 above. Additionally, the use of Olympic Material transformed into graphic animated formats such as animated GIFs (i.e. GIFV), GFY, WebM, or short video formats such as Vines and others, is expressly prohibited."</blockquote>
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No GIFs! Because we don't want too many people watching a 5-second soundless moving image over and over and over, at the expense of missing that tear-jerking beer commercial.<br />
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Speaking of live video, NBC had its own reasons for not broadcasting some of the events live. One is that they want to be sure to capitalize on ratings by airing it during prime time. The other was more curious. Several popular events — gymnastics and swimming, in addition to the opening ceremonies — will be broadcast on tape delay. When asked about this, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nbc-tape-delay-olympic-opening-ceremony-rio-2016-8">NBC's chief marketing officer John Miller said</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The people who watch the Olympics are not particularly sports fans. More women watch the games than men, and for the women, they're less interested in the result and more interested in the journey. It's sort of like the ultimate reality show and miniseries wrapped into one."</blockquote>
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Just a quick calendar check, NBC. This is 2016.<br />
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<i>Anno Domini</i>.<br />
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Better luck in Tokyo in 2020.<br />
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<b><i>This commentary originally appeared in <a href="http://smonty.co/fullmonty06" target="_blank">Episode 06 of The Full Monty</a>.</i></b><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Image source: <a href="https://www.blogger.com/By%20Unknown%20-%20Official%20Olympic%20Report,%20Public%20Domain,%20https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5027068" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a></span></i><br />
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Were Those the Modern or Ancient Olympics?

It's always amusing when some well-intentioned bureaucrat tries to bend the will of the Internet to their own way. The latest example...

Making Executives More Digitally Savvy

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Is your CEO social? I don’t mean do they interact with you or others in a communal way, or engage in elbow-rubbing over cocktails. I mean is your CEO active on any social networks? For most of you who work for Fortune 500 companies, the answer is no.<br />
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According to <a href="http://www.cio.com/article/3024233/social-networking/most-fortune-500-ceos-still-sit-on-social-media-sidelines.html" target="_blank">a study from Domo</a> earlier this year, only 39% of Fortune 500 CEOs use social media, and 70% of them only use a single network. Of the 50 CEOs on Twitter, 16 tweeted less than 25 times total since they started using it. Only 62 percent of the CEOs on Twitter tweeted within the last 100 days, and that's down 5 percent from last year.<br />
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Now, you could certainly argue that Twitter as a whole has decreased in usage, but the fact remains that most CEOs are not prioritizing their activity on social channels. "Well of course they don't," I hear you saying. "They're busy executives and shouldn't be expected to 'waste time' on social channels."<br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Communicating with customers is never a waste of time. </span>[<a href="http://ctt.ec/aeydL" target="_blank">Tweet this</a>]</i></b></div>
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A good 50% of any CEO's job is to be the chief communicator — with shareholders, with employees, and with customers. Not to mention that it's enlightening to have unfiltered feedback and direct contact with the people who use your products. Especially after years of executives being shielded from some of the actual comments by well-meaning lieutenants.<br />
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And when a CEO like Doug McMillon — the CEO of Walmart, the largest company in the world — can take the time to have an <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dougmcmillon/" target="_blank">Instagram account</a> and a <a href="http://facebook.com/dougmcmillon" target="_blank">Facebook page</a>, there's no excuse for any of the other 499. Walmart actually likens Doug's activity on social media to <a href="http://blog.walmart.com/20160705/social-media-is-doug-mcmillons-yellow-notepad" target="_blank">Sam Walton's famous yellow notepad</a>. The founder of Walmart used to visit stores all around the country, toting his yellow notepad wherever he went. There he'd document the things that employees and customers said to him so he could bring the insights back to Bentonville with him to share with the rest of the executive team.<br />
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That's exactly what Doug is doing with his social media efforts.<br />
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There's another reason to be concerned with CEO's lack of digital acuity: with digital disruption and digital transformation being on the tips of everyone's tongue, CEOs need to step up. Because the digital aspects of business transcend departments, more often than not, the CEO is (or should be) the one driving digital strategy. Doesn't it make sense that the CEO should have some understanding of the digital space?<br />
<br />
Rami Rahim, CEO of Juniper Networks, <a href="https://www.bulldogreporter.com/inside-the-c-suite-new-global-study-finds-c-suite-execs-are-underprepared-for-imminent-digital-disruption/">said</a>,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“True innovation requires an understanding of the value that technology delivers. Now more than ever, savvy technology investments are vital to maintaining a business advantage. The C-suite doesn’t need to code, but leading a company strategy for growth requires a strong relationship between those who set the strategy and those who execute.”</blockquote>
<br />
So think about where your business is heading and who is making key strategic decisions. This should inform the presence and activity of your executive team.<br />
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Who knows? Maybe they'll develop their own digital yellow notepads.<br />
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<h4 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", serif, sans-serif; font-size: 18.2px; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<b><i>If you liked this commentary and the previous one on <a href="http://www.scottmonty.com/2016/08/put-down-camera-for-minute.html" target="_blank">ubiquitous camera use</a>, you can listen to them in my new podcast <a href="http://fullmontyshow.com/show" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Full Monty</a>. Subscribe <a href="http://fullmontyshow.com/subscribe" target="_blank">via email</a> or on <a href="http://smonty.co/fullmontyitunes" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen?t=The_Full_Monty&utm_content=buffer2143a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer&u=0&view=/ps/Iy3ehvkts2zousixune2kwgmhl4" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;">Google Play</a>, <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=96004&refid=stpr" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;">Stitcher</a>, <a href="http://www.spreaker.com/show/the-full-monty_1" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;">Spreaker</a> or <a href="http://soundcloud.com/fullmontyshow" style="color: #280170; text-decoration: none;">SoundCloud</a>.</i></b></h4>
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<i>Image credit: <a href="https://flic.kr/p/7vbLf4" target="_blank">Ford Motor Company (Flickr)</a></i></div>
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</div>

Making Executives More Digitally Savvy

Is your CEO social? I don’t mean do they interact with you or others in a communal way, or engage in elbow-rubbing over cocktails. I mean...

Put Down the Camera for a Minute

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<br />
They say seeing is believing. And the number of photos and videos that are shared each day across the multiple social networks number in the billions.<br />
<br />
And the subject of many of those still and moving images in recent weeks and months have been victims of violence. Police shooting at suspects. Suspects shooting at police. The aftermath of terrorist acts. Images that are both emotionally disturbing and eye-opening for millions of residents around the globe, who see, unfiltered, what the camera sees. <br />
<br />
Yet our eyes can play tricks on us. Or rather subtle context, either before or after the shutter is clicked, can sometimes be omitted. Perhaps it's simply because we see what we expect to see - our biases being reinforced with what we think are cold, hard facts. Or because we see what the camera person wants us to see — a crucial piece of evidence is just out of the frame, or a bit of behavior wasn't picked up before the camera began rolling, thus robbing us of the ability to fully compehend why something is happening on screen.<br />
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I like to say there are two kinds of people in this world: those who crave closure...<br />
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Seriously, there are two kinds of people in the world: exhibitionists and voyeurs. But we're increasingly seeing the two roles mixing. So let's turn to those of us behind the camera.<br />
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Pulling out your phone to take a photo or video is as natural as waving at a passerby. Selfies, Snapchat updates, live video, Facetime — it's all part of the visual communications world we live in. We take it for granted.<br />
<br />
But what if that freedom to photograph were taken away from us? Or our use was limited in some capacity?<br />
<br />
According to <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/07/what-if-cameras-stopped-telling-the-truth/491150/" target="_blank">an article in <i>The Atlantic</i></a>, a patent awarded to Apple last month hints at a future where that might very well lead to such a future. The patent limits invisible signals that could change what smartphone cameras capture—or even completely disable smartphone cameras.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Apple filed for the patent in 2011, proposing a smartphone camera that could respond to data streams encoded in invisible infrared signals. The signals could display additional information on the phone’s screen: If a user points his or her camera at a museum exhibit, for example, a transmitter placed nearby could tell the phone to show information about the object in the viewfinder."</blockquote>
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Or one I'll add: at a musical concert, the singer's lyrics could be displayed on the screen for the hearing impaired. Both perfectly reasonable uses. A fine example of augmented reality being introduced in useful ways.<br />
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But what about the museum curator or the musical entertainer who doesn't want their art being shared with the outside world? The same technology that invisibly enhances such experiences could be used to disable the camera entirely.<br />
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No doubt you've been at a concert where the smartphone is the new lighter. Fans wave their glowing screens in the air, in a modern-day "FREEBIRD!" show of support for the band. But maybe you've been seated (or forced to stand) behind the concert-goer who is holding their camera in the air to record the concert, blocking your view. You paid for an experience. Shouldn't you be able to enjoy it without interference? Technology to the rescue.<br />
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But aside from the ethics and legalities of restricting camera use at events, can we stop and talk about living your life through a 4- or 5-inch screen?<br />
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I understand the need to capture moments of beauty in nature or architecture. It's a marvelous thing to be able to catch a child's first steps and share that indelible memory with relatives living hundreds of miles away (or to thousands of strangers on some online platform).<br />
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But how much else are you missing because you're constantly looking through a viewfinder? Quiet walks on the beach, a breathtaking sunset, standing amid the trees as the wind slowly wooshes through the leaves.<br />
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Past geniuses and creators — men and women who dug deep within themselves in quiet moments of reflection, alone with themselves — these are the people who made the world a better place. They made it better because they came to understand the world around them.<br />
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To understand themselves.<br />
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Sherlock Holmes once scolded Dr. Watson for not knowing how many steps led up to their sitting room. "<b>You see but you do not observe</b>," he told his biographer.<br />
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What are we not observing by seeing the world through our smartphone lens?<br />
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Something to consider.<br />
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<br />
<i>This commentary originally appeared in <a href="http://smonty.co/fullmonty04" target="_blank">Episode 04 of The Full Monty</a>.</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Image source: <a href="https://flic.kr/p/6Wbk2n" target="_blank">Ian T. McFarland (Flickr)</a></span></div>
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Put Down the Camera for a Minute

They say seeing is believing. And the number of photos and videos that are shared each day across the multiple social networks number in ...

An Update on The Full Monty

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If you're looking for the latest issue of <b>The Full Monty</b> newsletter, we've moved it to a new location.<br />
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It is now housed at <a href="http://fullmontyshow.com/">fullmontyshow.com</a>, where it shares the site with a companion podcast that contains two commentary-based items in a 15 minute show each week. Shortcut to the <a href="http://fullmontyshow.com/subscribe" target="_blank">subscription link</a>.<br />
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An Update on The Full Monty

If you're looking for the latest issue of The Full Monty newsletter, we've moved it to a new location. It is now housed at full...

When Do Ethics Trump a Superior User Experience?

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Uber is the poster-child for the collaborative economy. A unicorn many times over, it is purportedly worth $65 billion. It achieved this status through ruthless determinism, and a willful desire to ignore existing regulations in the hope of winning more customers.<br />
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With a wildly loyal customer base, the service has proven itself useful, fast and convenient. When you add affordable to that, then it's a lock. </div>
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But can Uber's dominance continue with some of its recent decisions?<br />
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Uber has made questionable business decisions over time. Decisions that impact its reputation. But like Donald Trump, not even the most ridiculous and outrageous actions leave the merest dent in Uber's armor. For example: <br />
<ul>
<li>Uber sabotaged its competitor Lyft by <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/11/technology/uber-fake-ride-requests-lyft/" target="_blank">ordering fake rides and then cancelling them</a>, so it would be able to pick up fares instead; </li>
<li>It tried to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-ceo-on-messing-with-lyfts-funding-2014-11" target="_blank">torpedo Lyft's fundraising efforts</a> by telling VCs that it was raising a round directly after; </li>
<li>It <a href="http://www.dailydot.com/business/uber-terminates-chicago-contactors-discount-code/" target="_blank">fired 15 drivers by email</a> - over a misunderstanding. To add insult to injury, the email font was <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/10/03/comic-sans-history/" target="_blank">Comic Sans</a>. </li>
<li>It threatened to <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/johanabhuiyan/uber-sought-to-hire-opposition-researcher-to-weaponize-facts" target="_blank">hire opposition researchers</a> to dig into the private life of journalists who weren't completely pro-Uber. </li>
<li>It began offering <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/3/11852940/uber-subprime-auto-loans-drivers-xchange" target="_blank">sub-prime auto loans</a> to its drivers; </li>
<li>Uber cut its drivers' earnings <a href="http://observer.com/2016/01/uber-drivers-plan-boycott-after-fare-cuts-slash-their-earnings-to-below-minimum-wage/" target="_blank">to below minimum wage</a>; </li>
<li>It <a href="http://observer.com/2016/01/uber-ceo-blocking-drivers-on-twitter-for-protesting-fare-cuts/" target="_blank">blocked drivers on Twitter</a> who spoke out about fare cuts; </li>
<li>Even as its skimping on paying drivers in the US, Uber is pouring money into China, where it had a 1.5% market share against incumbents and is <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/18/uber-losing-1-billion-a-year-in-china.html" target="_blank">losing $1 billion a year</a>. </li>
<li>Uber has been known to be rife with sexism, referring to its service as "<a href="https://pando.com/2014/02/27/we-call-that-boob-er-the-four-most-awful-things-travis-kalanick-said-in-his-gq-profile/" target="_blank">Boober</a>," and suffering the embarrassment of <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/french-uber-bird-hunting-promotion-pairs-lyon-riders-with-a" target="_blank">Uber France's promotion to offer rides with "hot chicks"</a>. </li>
<li>As it was being sued in a class action suit, Uber hired a secret research firm staffed with CIA and NSA veterans to investigate the plaintiff's attorneys. The presiding judge  in the case has already ruled the evidence constitutes "<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-antitrust-idUSKCN0YU0F5" target="_blank">a reasonable basis to suspect the perpetration of fraud</a>." </li>
<li>And most recently, it is not only undercutting all of its competitors in New York City, but it's <a href="http://gothamist.com/2016/07/12/uberpool_subway_mta.php" target="_blank">undercutting public transportation</a> as it offers UberPool rides for commuters during rush hour. This is the kind of behavior that <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/john-d-rockefeller" target="_blank">John D. Rockefeller was notorious for</a>: the CEO of Standard Oil would secretly acquire railroads to control the distribution process and force his competitors to deal with him and his pricing structure. </li>
</ul>
<br />
At some point, Uber's culture and questionable business practices will catch up with them. Uber seems to escape the watchful eye of journalists, for the most part. There's no modern-day <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Tarbell" target="_blank">Ida Tarbell</a>, who investigated Rockefeller and Standard Oil, leading to its eventual breakup.<br />
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But if more consumers understand the behavior of the company, there's going to be a breaking point where no amount of user experience or convenience can make up for its lack of ethics and basic human decency.<br />
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<b><i>If you liked this commentary and the previous one on legal terms of apps, you can listen to them in my new podcast <a href="http://fullmontyshow.com/show" target="_blank">The Full Monty</a>. Subscribe on <a href="http://smonty.co/fullmontyitunes">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen?t=The_Full_Monty&utm_content=buffer2143a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer&u=0&view=/ps/Iy3ehvkts2zousixune2kwgmhl4">Google Play</a>, <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=96004&refid=stpr">Stitcher</a>, <a href="http://www.spreaker.com/show/the-full-monty_1">Spreaker</a> or <a href="http://soundcloud.com/fullmontyshow">SoundCloud</a>.</i></b></h4>
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<i>Image credit: <a href="http://thebluediamondgallery.com/e/ethics.html">Blue Diamond Gallery</a> via a Creative Commons 3 license - <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC BY-SA 3.0</a></i><br />
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When Do Ethics Trump a Superior User Experience?

Uber is the poster-child for the collaborative economy. A unicorn many times over, it is purportedly worth $65 billion. It achieved this ...

Pay Attention

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There were a couple of hiccups that initially were minor speed bumps in the viral rise of Pokémon GO. As you know, the app seriously took off in the last few weeks, and everywhere you go, you can see people of all types playing the game. Our family lives in a somewhat rural area, and we see parents walking their kids around the neighborhood, looking for Pokémon.<br />
<br />
But in the rush to be part of this craze that's sweeping the nation, many people breezed past a couple of critical issues in the signup process that could come back to haunt them later on.<br />
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<b>A Matter of Permission</b></h3>
The first is a matter of how you register an account to play the game itself. Within the first week of its debut, <a href="http://adamreeve.tumblr.com/post/147120922009/pokemon-go-is-a-huge-security-risk" target="_blank">one security analyst noted</a> that there were two options for signing up, specific to iOS users: through an existing Pokémon account, or with a Google account. For those who didn't have a Pokémon account, they couldn't create one because servers were swamped with the popularity of the game. So, that left them only with the Google option.<br />
<br />
But here's the rub: normally, when you create an account, you see a  message saying what data the app is going to be able to access — something like “This app will be able to view your email address and name." No big deal, right? Well, when you signed up with your Google credentials, you granted <b><u>full access</u></b> to Niantic Labs and Pokémon. When you grant full account access, the application can see and modify nearly <b><u>all information</u></b> in your Google Account. It can read your email and send email as you; it can access all of your Google Drive documents, including deleting them; it can look at your search history and your Maps history; it can access your Google Photos, public and private.<br />
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Get the picture?<br />
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Pokémon's creators acknowledged the error fairly quickly, saying that "Pokémon GO only accesses basic Google profile information (specifically, your User ID and email address) and no other Google account information is or has been accessed or collected." From there they developed a fix and Google verified that the app <b><u>doesn't</u></b> access anything more than your email address and User ID.<br />
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<b>Coming to Terms</b></h3>
With that crisis averted, here's another one to concern yourself with: Pokémon GO's Terms and Conditions — you know, the obligatory screen that you have to click and scroll through in order to activate a new app — contain some language that means <a href="https://consumerist.com/2016/07/14/pokemon-go-strips-users-of-their-legal-rights-heres-how-to-opt-out/" target="_blank">you'll give up certain legal rights</a>, such as right to a jury trial or class action suit. This is in its "Arbitration Notice" section, which also refers to the "Agreement to Arbitrate" section further down. The good news is that you can opt out if you email — or <b><i>mail</i></b> — the company. That's right, the good old US Postal Service will help protect you from the Arbitration Clause of the latest and hottest smartphone app.<br />
<br />
But let's step back a moment. Have you ever tried reading through an app's Terms and Conditions while you're on a mobile device? Most of them are <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2118688/PayPal-agreement-longer-Hamlet-iTunes-beats-Macbeth.html" target="_blank">longer than Hamlet</a> or <a href="http://daggle.com/iphone-terms-conditions-3-times-long-constitution-2015" target="_blank">three times as long as the US Constitution</a>. That's too long to read on a <b><i>desktop</i></b>. <br />
<br />
Ts & Cs are long for one reason: they were written by lawyers who are out to protect the company. There's no thought of the user. If there were, there would be a better user experience. This is an area of business that, to this commentator at least, seems to be ripe for change.<br />
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Who's looking out for the average person? And how is an average person supposed to understand what's at stake? You need a lawyer present to advise you of the details. That's not really a practical thing for most people — especially for those who are busy catching Pokémon.</div>
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Where's the customer-centricity in these apps?<br />
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<h4 style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>If you liked this commentary, you can get it as an audio entry in my new podcast <a href="http://fullmontyshow.com/show" target="_blank">The Full Monty</a>. Subscribe on <a href="http://smonty.co/fullmontyitunes">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen?t=The_Full_Monty&utm_content=buffer2143a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer&u=0&view=/ps/Iy3ehvkts2zousixune2kwgmhl4">Google Play</a>, <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=96004&refid=stpr">Stitcher</a>, <a href="http://www.spreaker.com/show/the-full-monty_1">Spreaker</a> or <a href="http://soundcloud.com/fullmontyshow">SoundCloud</a>.</i></b></h4>
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<i>Image credit: <a href="http://www.thebluediamondgallery.com/t/terms-and-conditions.html" target="_blank">Blue Diamond Gallery</a></i></div>
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Pay Attention

There were a couple of hiccups that initially were minor speed bumps in the viral rise of Pokémon GO. As you know, the app seriously took...

Sharing Without Reading

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How often do you share links online? Probably every day. And multiple times a day, at that. But of the content you share, do you actually read all of it? Or do you simply share a link because you liked the headline?<br />
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A recent study showed that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/06/16/six-in-10-of-you-will-share-this-link-without-reading-it-according-to-a-new-and-depressing-study/" target="_blank">60% of people will share an article online without having read it</a>.<br />
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Think about that for a moment. Sixty percent. That's an awful lot of content that's being shared without being read. Now, the hope is that we're not all avoiding the same 60% of content. But it leaves us with the inescapable reality that we're walking around, as uninformed as we choose to be.<br />
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Before the Internet, when people used to share articles, they clipped them out of magazines and newspapers. And they did it because there was something compelling about the article, not just about the headlines — although the <i>New York Post</i> has always been masterful about how they handle their tabloid headlines — but those headlines are meant to sell the paper. Once you had the paper and were interested in clipping and sharing an article, the entire article was there on the page for you to read.</div>
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These days, we're not exposed to the full article when we see a headline race past our feed on Facebook or Twitter. We're given a decision to make — literally hundreds of times a day — on what's worthy of our feed. Because we make judgments from headlines alone and we in turn are judged based on what we share. There should be a great lesson for you in the power of headlines and the ability to craft opinion based on short sentences. Twitter, anyone?</div>
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But here's the rub: the algorithms that power newsfeeds on Facebook, Twitter and others are designed to give us more of what they think we want – which means that the version of the world we encounter every day in our own personal stream has been invisibly curated to reinforce our pre-existing beliefs. This is why it seems so uncommon for some people to see Trump or Brexit supporters in their feed — and yet both movements have been the recipients of surprising support in the polls. If we're not seeing the content, we're isolated in some way from the reality of the situation.<br />
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So in the end, we all have a responsibility. As readers and sharers of content, we have the responsibility to more thoroughly read and consume content before we share it — even if it reinforces a stance we want to take. Or perhaps <i>especially</i> if it reinforces a stance we want to take.</div>
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And as marketers and communicators who create the content, we have the responsibility to accurately reflect the core takeaways of our material in the headlines or short descriptions about it. When misinformed opinion gets shared online, creators are equally as, if not more responsible than the people who blindly share the content.</div>
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<b><i>In case you'd like to listen to above rant and <a href="http://www.scottmonty.com/2016/08/live-video-whats-old-is-new-again.html" target="_blank">the previous one about live video</a>, you can catch it in my podcast, <a href="http://fullmontyshow.com/show" target="_blank">The Full Monty</a>. Subscribe on <a href="http://smonty.co/fullmontyitunes">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/music/listen?t=The_Full_Monty&utm_content=buffer2143a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer&u=0&view=/ps/Iy3ehvkts2zousixune2kwgmhl4">Google Play</a>, <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=96004&refid=stpr">Stitcher</a>, <a href="http://www.spreaker.com/show/the-full-monty_1">Spreaker</a> or <a href="http://soundcloud.com/fullmontyshow">SoundCloud</a>.</i></b></h4>
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Sharing Without Reading

How often do you share links online? Probably every day. And multiple times a day, at that. But of the content you share, do you actuall...

Live Video: What's Old Is New Again

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There were a number of stories in our June 27 newsletter that all revolved around video. <br />
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After several years of moving money out of TV ad budgets to experiment with new digital outlets and social media, several big advertisers are spending more on television – and the result, according to ad buyers and other executives familiar with the pace of this year’s upfronts, are a series of rate increases that TV has not won since the end of the last U.S. recession.<br />
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Still, TV advertising grew for 40 years, unchecked. In the last 20 years, the growth has slowed significantly and has been around a 40% market share. Digital and mobile have a 33% share of advertising.<br />
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But when you consider <b>time spent</b>, this is where things get interesting. <a href="http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Growth-of-Time-Spent-on-Mobile-Devices-Slows/1013072">Digital accounted for</a> 47% of time spent with media in 2015, up from 32% in 2011, while TV has fallen from 41% amount of time spent in 2011 to 35% in 2015.<br />
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A look into the future</b></h4>
If you look more closely at this decline in time spent with TV, it's not evenly distributed across age groups. The 65+ age group has seen a 14% increase in TV time from 2010 to 2015, and  50-64 years old saw a 1% increase. However: every other age group has seen a decline in TV viewing. From a 14% decrease in 35-49 year olds to a whopping 41% decrease in 18-24 year olds.<br />
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Those figures tell the story of a very different future of television from the way we've come to know it.<br />
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So, where's the future of video? Well, the live stream industry is preparing for its own advertising heyday, as they create Live Fronts for advertisers to invest in live video. If it's quality content, people will still stop and watch live video. It's a matter of making it known and making an appointment with your audience — and then delivering on your promise.</div>
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<b><br /></b><b>Stream away</b></h4>
And more people are turning to online services like Netflix for their entertainment. Amazon video was responsible for just under two percent of downstream traffic on the Internet in 2015. This year, it more than doubled that, with 4.25% of downstream traffic. Suddenly, Amazon streaming video is in the #3 position, after Netflix, which has 35.15% and YouTube, with 17.53%. With more original programming in the works and its massive customer database, you can expect Amazon to be growing this segment — and doing so aggressively.<br />
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But YouTube Red, the company's paid subscription model - isn't standing by idly either. It's joining Netflix, Amazon and Hulu by stepping up to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/24/business/media/youtube-red-buys-step-up-its-first-big-budget-tv-drama.html?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWWpreVpXTTBOMlUzWVRVMiIsInQiOiJpWHE2ZUF1SHRMOTJTeVJ5RzFDZmNKdmhRMDQ5RzZPV0FSRExTOWxSN1wvXC9xaHNLNnpVNXU0OWFVUFdjYnJiVkVkU3d6d0NXXC9cL3dmVUhJbUdzb1dZdUs3VTVRWVJOUU4xd1wvUkN0Tk9MY2xJPSJ9&_r=0">spend money to buy content from big media companies</a>. In this case, YouTube Red has acquired Step Up, a drama based on the street dance movie that launched Channing Tatum's career. (Oh, where would 21 Jump Street be without him?)<br />
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Overall, the US digital video advertising market is expected to continue grow at a double-digit pace through at least 2020, according to eMarketer. 72% of marketers planned to invest those digital video ad dollars with YouTube in the next 12 months, while 46% of marketers plan to use Facebook. Other platforms including Hulu, ABC and Yahoo garnered less representation.</div>
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There continues to be a push from Facebook into live video. I host a Sunday evening show on Facebook Live every week myself. But now Facebook is paying celebrities and influencers to use the Live platform to create more video, thus trying to dominate the other companies out there. They have the scale to do it and they have the tools to continue to evolve the platform — such as creating Live video for more than one party and creating "waiting rooms" that allow enough people to gather before a program starts in earnest.</div>
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In reality, what's happening is that we're witnessing a rebirth of television, simply on new platforms. In its earliest days, television was only broadcast live. You had to watch a show when it was on. Over time, we've grown accustomed to recording our favorite shows — first on VCRs and more recently on DVRs. So live is a novelty. </div>
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What's old is new again.<br />
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Only now, we have hopes for better ads. Or at least the ability to provide a live comment back to our hosts about them.</div>
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Live Video: What's Old Is New Again

There were a number of stories in our June 27 newsletter that all revolved around video. After several years of moving money out of TV...

Scott Monty - Strategic Communications & Leadership Advisor