In the event that you like to ignore your emails (hi—come sit by me) and/or GDPR, short for General Data Protection Regulation, hasn’t blipped your radar yet, there are plenty of articles to get you up to speed. A few we found to be most helpful are listed below. 

For the policy and business-minded, you can read this one.

For those who prefer to speak human, there’s this one.

And for those of you who like to get your news straight from the data gobbling horse mouth, Facebook posted a blog about it. 

As many of these articles mention, this is an EU law which technically doesn’t apply here in the US, though some companies will have to make the shift if their subscription or user lists contain EU-based email addresses/data. Other organizations will go ahead and comply based on transparency commitments, in anticipation of US law following suit or simply to cover their asses. Cue the flood of privacy emails and feelings of mild surprise that you were on that many lists to begin with.

If you’re a US-based company with no EU subscribers, there’s no reason to let this keep you up at night. However, in an industry that is relying more and more on user data for things like ad targeting, following digital snail trails and trying new and exciting ways to convince people to give you their email addresses—totally unrelated, anyone want a free t-shirt—it is something we as professional communicators need to start thinking about. 

The most superficial impacts of this are copy and design driven. You’re now having to include extra steps and extra reading in your initial subscription and user outreach, creating additional (admittedly low) barriers for an audience whose attention span and patience in digital experiences is waning rapidly. Some speculate users have become so accustomed to “passive consent” templates, that doubling down on requiring them to affirm their consent for communication is tantamount to requiring them to learn a new behavior— though Facebook seems to be handling it  just fine. 

Others argue that while it might be a lot of extra information, explicit confirmation is only going to take the form of (larger) fine print. And as this piece  points out, the print doesn’t always come neatly wrapped in a privacy update email and people might not even read it anyway. 

Moving past the surface issues of “sounds pretty looks pretty,” GDPR-compliant customer/target audience engagement becomes more complicated. Normal practices like adding someone to an email list after receiving their business card, certain types of marketing content partnerships or requesting and retaining a user zip code to show nearby locations may no longer be legal options without appropriate, lengthy consent documentation or data protections.

It’s a possibility that we need to be thinking critically about—not just because there’s a potential that a similar law could be passed here, but from an authenticity and growth standpoint for the brands and campaigns we manage. Measurement is important, and data is an easy tool to use—sometimes to the point of being lazy. For example, you have an email subscription list of 2,500 email addresses. Great. But how many of those people actually want to be there? How many of those people are actually reading the monthly newsletter you’re putting out? How much does that newsletter matter to you? Are you only sending it because you feel you have to send it?

Lax data laws make superficial contact easy. But real contact, real engagement, is so much more than a monthly email. To really move the needle, it requires more footwork and creative thinking than a monthly email. There’s going to be a lot of huffing and puffing by companies over the next few months, scrambling to find work-arounds or just-under-the-radar ways to stick to what’s worked in the past. But we should see this as more than just an inconvenience. Maybe this is a chance to move beyond a model that’s stayed static for far too long, and grow into something new.

WTF is a GDPR?

You’ve probably received enough privacy notice emails that a flag has gone up, and you’ve started to do a bit of research. 

Condensed

Excuse us for not being particularly over the moon. It’s not that we doubt Governor Abbott’s intentions; we believe him when he says that he doesn’t want another Southerland Springs or Santa Fe.

But do we believe him when he says he’s got the plan to solve it?

No. Not really. We’re not even convinced that he believes it.

But we can’t keep going as is—we can’t. A failure to change the way things are currently being done is a promise that another mass casualty incident will be on our doorstep. Numbers are not on our side. We have averaged one mass shooting a week since the beginning of 2018.

GO HERE:
Participate in the June 1-3 Gun Violence Awareness Weekend.

Attend a local Wear Orange event and talk to every single person you can. Start collecting collaborators, find connection in their stories and discover your path forward in helping end gun violence.

We’ve had dozens of folks—just as mad and fired up as we are—reach out to us about finding an organization to rally behind. We are standing behind Everytown For Gun Safety—a name you should know and the umbrella org over Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America and Wear Orange.

DO THIS:
Read our Human Rights Action Guide.

Find organizations to support in our Humans Rights Action Guide. We originally released this guide in 2017, but have expanded it with a school shooting resource section.

Unfathomable bullshit that we need to add this, but clearly we must.

THINK ON THIS: 
Why the hell aren’t we researching gun violence?

We are staring at a public health crisis and have some thoughts about the recent passing of the Omnibus budget in March of this year that means that the CDC may start researching gun violence—albeit with no budget. We’re ready.

FOLLOW + READ:
Grow your brain. Dive deeper to push harder. 

Don’t lose focus. Even if your news feed has moved on from the last school shooting, you sure as hell don’t have to. Tune in to these important voices to keep this issue top-of-mind and top of your social feed.

Oh—and for added fuel, read this letter we wrote to Ted Cruz.

SAVE + SHARE:
It’s (literally) the least you can do.

Your voice matters. Your community listens. Your social feed amplifies. Find all of our anti-gun violence graphics here—PLEASE borrow, steal, share and spread the word for this weekend’s Wear Orange event. #stopgunviolence

Do something about gun violence and #WearOrange

So, here we are. Again. Reeling from more school shootings, questioning our priorities as a nation.

So, here we are. Again. Reeling from more school shootings, questioning our priorities as a nation. In our home state, we watch for real action against gun violence as Texas Governor Abbott apparently has a plan.

Do something about gun violence and #WearOrange

What the hell do we do now?

GO HERE:Participate in the June 1-3 Gun Violence Awareness Weekend.

GO HERE:
Participate in the June 1-3 Gun Violence Awareness Weekend.