This week in PR (26 January)

News in brief

• Trust is word of the week. Facebook’s news feed update was designed to prioritise trustworthy publishers; and Edelman released its 18th annual Trust Barometer report to coincide with the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos (#WEF18). Social media companies were among the biggest losers.
• Fox’s bid to take full ownership of Sky has been provisionally blocked by regulator the Competitions and Markets Authority.
• The Government’s announcement of a National Security Communications Unit to tackle ‘fake news’ has been welcomed by the CIPR.
• A Dublin hotel owner has publicly rejected an ‘influencer’s’ request for a free stay. ‘If I let you stay here in return for a feature in your video, who is going to pay the staff who look after you? Who is going to pay the housekeepers who clean your room? The waiters who serve you breakfast?’ 
• Golin London MD Bibi Hilton succeeds Mary Whenman as president of Women in PR

Calendar

• Influence Live: London, 30 January
• ECREA Organisational and Strategic Communications Conference, Malaga, 1-2 February 2018
• Commemoration service to mark CIPR’s 70th anniversary at St Bride’s church, Fleet Street, London on 9 February
• CIPR STEM group: Communicating Boaty McBoatface and Large Hadron Colliders (13 February)
• CIPR International: Annual General Meeting 2018, London, 20 February
• Deadline for logging annual CIPR CPD activity is end of February
• David Weinberger, co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto, will deliver the Sir Stephen Tallents memorial lecture on 14 March as part of the CIPR’s 70th anniversary celebrations.
• Granicus UK Bristol Public Sector Digital Engagement Day 22 March.
• NB New dates: CIPR Inside: Ask the Guru – from informing to engaging, London, 19 April / Newcastle, 25 April
• The World Public Relations Forum 2018 is in Oslo, 22-24 April
• ICA Preconference: Authentic Communication, Trust, Dialogue, and Society, Prague, Czech Republic, 24 May
• AMEC Global Summit, Barcelona, 12-14 June
• PR Fest, Edinburgh, 14-15 June
• Summer Stars lecture series, Taylor Bennett Foundation and London College of Communication. Week of 25 June.
• Barcelona International Critical PR Conference is on 2-3 July. Deadline for submissions 1 March 2018 (email [email protected])
• Bledcom symposium, Slovenia, 5-7 July
• International History of Public Relations Conference is in Bournemouth, 11-12 July.
• Comms Unplugged 2018: 13-15 September 2018 in Dorset
• EUPRERA Annual Congress, Aarhus, Denmark, 27-29 September 2018 (call for papers)

Thought leaders: Pick of the posts

These are the editor’s pick of posts about public relations this week. Recommendations are welcome to [email protected] or @pr_place

• Jenni Field: Investing in yourself (25 January)
  ‘While it may feel like there are too many professional bodies to choose from, I’m sure there is either one or a combination that can help you achieve your goals.’
• Stuart Baird: The lessons from Leeds United: the ugly, the bad and the good (25 January)
  ‘Leeds United melted social media this week by unveiling a new club crest which was universally disparaged not least by its own fans, former and current players ‘
• Stephen Waddington: How to write a communications or public relations plan (24 January)
  ‘You should be able to summarise a plan on a single piece of paper and be able to explain it in five minutes. This doesn’t mean dumbing down the planning process, but is good management practice.’
• Ella Minty: Trust, credibility and playing the game (24 January)
  ‘Social purpose and corporate social responsibility are no longer in the form of mere website or brochure statements – to be believed, they need to be trusted.’
• Hel Reynolds: Dealing with negative social media comments – the dos and don’ts (24 January)
  ‘See it as an opportunity.  On social media, it’s not just the person who commented you’re communicating with – it’s everyone else who can see it.’
• Iliyana Stareva: Managing Cross-Cultural Communication in a Multinational Company (23 January)
  ‘When we add cultural differences to how people make decisions and follow orders, organisations face a tremendous challenge to getting things done.’
• Scott Guthrie: Why recent influencer fails are good for influencer marketing (no date)
  ‘Maybe influencer marketing as a discipline is reaching the peak of inflated expectations – to coin a Gartner hype cycle phrase.’
• Vikki Chowney: Thoughts on digital trends for 2018 (22 January)
  ‘If 2017 was about big data, 2018 is about data overload. To put it simply, we’ve just got too much of it.’
• Rachel Miller: What you need to know about trust in 2018 (22 January)
  ‘For the last five years we have lauded peer-to-peer as the most credible form of communication as it’s more trusted. Today’s report challenges that thinking.’
• Ste Davies: The Digital Communications Hype Cycle 2018 (no date)
  ‘Usage of communication technology is often cyclical. What works today may not work next year and vice versa. In other words, it’s in a constant state of flux.’

#prstudent #bestPRblogs

Here’s a very useful resource for PR students and graduates:

• PR Careers: 2018: 150 PR internships and graduate schemes

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

• Jenny Martin (Ulster, 4): Creating a dementia friendly community (26 January)
  ‘As if organising an official Launch wasn’t enough work, we decided to run an event every single day that week, and what better week then Dementia Awareness Week  – we held Afternoon Tea, a Memory Walk and a Quiz to name but a few.’
• Aiobheann McCormack (Liverpool John Moores, 3): What is CSR, though? (24 January)
  ‘The negative image of CSR is that it is simply another box that needs checked; a ‘saving face’ mechanism where companies do just enough to slip through the ‘Bad Guy’ label.’
• Daniel McGrenaghan (Ulster, 4): Placement year. Nothing to be Concerned about! (25 January)
  ‘My manager told me I would be taking control of the London Marathon for the year. This was a major responsibility for me in the Community Fundraising team.’
• Joe Cullen (Manchester Met, PG): PR specialisms – internal communications (24 January)
  ‘What was also fantastic to see, were so many experts sharing best practice and advice to the profession and promoting IC’s strategic significance.’
• Una McHugh (Ulster, 4): Putting the Heart into Placement (23 January)
  ‘After the most amazing year I left with a newfound love for the Third Sector.’
• Anna Haughian (Ulster, 4): Ryanair: What Went Wrong?  (22 January)
  ‘From reading and listening to press releases and news reports on this scandal, it is clear that Ryanair tried to blame everyone and everything but themselves from the beginning.’
• Claire Simpson (Aston, 4): A year of blogging (21 January)
  ‘So here it is. A round-up of some of my favourite PR blogs which if you’re not following already you really should…’