This week in PR (22 December)

News in brief

• Twitter has tightened its rules on hate speech, and suspended the accounts of Britain First and two of its leaders.
• The CIPR has published a research report: Brexit and Public Relations in 2018. ‘For public relations professionals, this moment in our history represents an opportunity to demonstrate strategic leadership.’
• It’s hard to win attention, especially on the shortest day and just before the Christmas break. But did I really want to think about elfs and sex games (teabagging?) and add to a brewing social media storm? So I won’t mention the company behind this charming Christmas stunt. You probably know it already; the backlash has already begun.
• Sex and humour do have their place in effective communication: see below for my blog headline of the year. ‘Premature Jubilation: Does Christmas come too early?’ This from Jenny Craig, an Ulster University student.

Calendar

• PR: Back to the Future CIPR Marcoms Group event on 23 January 2018
• An evening for NHS communicators – internal communications, free event, London, 25 January 2018
• CIPR Local Public Services group: Behaviour change workshop, 31 January 2018, London
• Commemoration service to mark CIPR’s 70th anniversary at St Bride’s church, Fleet Street, London on 9 February 2018
• David Weinberger, co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto, will deliver the Sir Stephen Tallents memorial lecture on 14 March 2018 as part of the CIPR’s 70th anniversary celebrations.
• The World Public Relations Forum 2018 is in Oslo, 22-24 April 2018.
• ICA Preconference: Authentic Communication, Trust, Dialogue, and Society, Prague, Czech Republic, 24 May 2018.
• AMEC Global Summit, Barcelona, 12-14 June 2018
• Barcelona International Critical PR Conference is on 2-3 July 2018. Deadline for submissions 1 March 2018 (email callforpapersprconference@upf.edu)
• International History of Public Relations Conference is in Bournemouth, 11-12 July 2018.
• Comms Unplugged 2018: 13-15 September 2018 in Dorset
• EUPRERA Annual Congress, Aarhus, Denmark, 27-29 September 2018 (call for papers)

Pick of the posts

These are the editor’s pick of posts about public relations this week. Recommendations are welcome to editor@prplace.com

• Scott Guthrie: Net neutrality UK: a communicator’s overview (15 December)
  ‘A two-speed internet would help dig a moat around existing companies making it very hard for startups to grow to the same scale.’
• Dan Slee: BEING HUMAN: The first 30 days of human comms… and what I’ve learned (17 December)
  ‘Over the course of the month a staggering 10,000 unique users came and read the content. Thank you for stopping by, for sharing and for coming up with suggestions.’
• Darren Caveney: 11 hopes, fears and challenges for communicators in 2018 (17 December)
  ‘Demand and time management are the biggest challenges facing communicators in 2018. Period. Get it wrong and there is little left for creativity, for thinking space, for the opportunity for something new and special to flourish’
• Neville Hobson: 2018: the year of chatbots, AI and digital personal assistants (18 December)
  ‘We know about chatbots for great customer experiences. For example, if you go to a banking website a chat window pops up. It’s not a human wanting to chat, it’s an algorithm. So we’re now used to all that.’
• Holly Justice: Are we mad to ignore the convergence of marketing and advertising? (19 December)
  ‘This brave new converged world has a name: madtech.’
• Rachel Miller: The trend internal comms pros need in 2018  (19 December)
  ‘I hope considering your employees’ voices is essential to your IC planning for next year.’
• Steve Davies: The future of social media and what it means to you (post and podcast; no date)
  ‘The future of social media is not about the evolution of the technology and “why you need to embrace video!” but is about the cultural changes to individuals and society.’
• Rich Leigh: 2017 in review – Top 20 PR campaigns and stunts of the Year (20 December)
  ‘I can announce that this will be the last annual round-up I write.’
• Stephen Waddington: Storify will leave a hole in the internet but there’s a much bigger issue in play (21 December)
  ‘Build your own website, blog, image platform and newsroom. Avoid using rented services for these critical functions.’
• Robert Haslam: Facebook is improving the feed. Like if you agree. (21 December)
  ‘The social media giant has announced that it is going start demoting posts that try to bait users to engage with them.’

#prstudent #bestPRblogs

Here’s our pick of the best posts by those studying public relations and/or aspiring to work in PR.

• Hollie Thomson (Ulster, 4): ‘Tis the season for making panic-fuelled purchases (18 December)
  ‘I will be surprised if I serve anyone on the lead up to the big day, who’s shop totals up to less than £250.’
• Maria Temneanu (Westminster, 4) Guest post: The hard thing about falling off (December 18)
  ‘Persistence is more important than talent when it comes to succeeding. If you’re not good at something, you’re likely to experience failure.’
• Jenny Craig (Ulster, 4): Premature Jubilation – Does Christmas come too early? (20 December)
  ‘The Telegraph has pointed out that the average household spend at Christmas exceeds £800!’
• Katy McGuigan (Ulster, 4): Persuasion at the heart of Christmas (21 December)
  ‘If I were to give any advice, speak up – sitting worrying what you’re about to say being wrong is useless.’
  

At the mid-point of the academic year, here are the leading individuals and universities in our #bestPRblogs contest. I have nothing but praise for Conor McGrath and his Ulster students – but there must surely be lots of shy English students out there waiting to be discovered! I hope to hear from you in 2018.

Name	University	Appearances
Orlagh Shanks	Liverpool John Moores	9
Emma Williamson	Sunderland	4
Ellie Tyrrell	Greenwich	4
Olivia McAleenan	Ulster	3
Jessica Pardoe	Liverpool John Moores	3

University	Students featured	Appearances
Ulster	27	32
Liverpool John Moores	2	12
Sunderland	2	6
Greenwich	2	5