For the past several years, momentum has been building as more and more organizations — recognizing public expectations that they take steps to address social and environmental issues in the wake of declining trust in other institutions — articulate strong positions on issues ranging from climate change to transgender rights. Then came the leak of the U.S. Supreme Court’s abortion decision, indicating the Court will overturn 50 years of precedent with Roe v. Wade. The response from the corporate world has been tepid. In this monthly long-form episode, Neville and Shel look at the few organizations that have spoken out and how some are taking internal measures rather than public-facing positions, while most remain silent.

As if that’s not enough heavy discussion, we also spend time looking at the culpability of social media that provide access to live-streamed footage of hatred-motivated mass shootings, from Christchurch to Buffalo.

Also in this episode:

• A Facebook executive has released an 8,000-word analysis of the metaverse, arguing that Meta can’t own it, and nor can anyone else
• The hybrid work model that many companies have adopted in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic means an end to many employees being forced to participate in mandatory “fun” activities. Is that a good thing?
• New research finds that employees are experiencing notification fatigue, and it’s worse than Zoom fatigue or email fatigue
• There’s a correlation between a CEO’s reputation and that of the brands in their companies
• Dan York’s report focuses on TikTok, including a spate of new features and a look at some of the video-sharing app’s plans

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The next monthly, long-form episode of FIR will drop on Monday, June 20. FIR “shorts” — episodes under 15 minutes — will be available several times each week.

We host a Communicators Zoom Chat each Thursday at 1 p.m. ET. For credentials needed to participate, contact Shel or Neville directly or request the credentials in our Facebook group or send an email to fircomments@gmail.com.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which Shel’s FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog. Neville’s “asides” blog, Outbox, is available, as well.

• For links from this episode, visit the FIR website

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