✅ Monday briefing: fake press release, new CIPR President, resting WaddsCon, GDPR consultation, influencer marketing code, behavioural science toolkit, and more...
Best and bad practice, industry, research and insight, media, and social media and platforms
This newsletter is crowdsourced each week from my blog and community of practice for people studying and working in marketing, media and PR. It’s a hive mind, newsroom and source of information, help and support. You’d be welcome to join us.
Best and bad practice
👎 FAKE PRESS RELEASE: A fake press release distributed on Globe Newswire claimed Walmart would start accepting cryptocurrency as payment. The retail chain saw a sudden surge in shareprice following the claim. This raises a content verification issue for news distribution services. Spotted Alan Morrison.
🗣️ EMPLOYEE VOICE: Two documents published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) provide best practice guidelines for using individual and group communication channels. They are useful primers for internal communications. Spotted Bridget Aherne.
Industry
👦 NEW CIPR PRESIDENT: Congratulations to Steven Shepperson-Smith who has been announced as the President of the CIPR for 2023, the 75th anniversary of the Institute. Steven is a Senior Corporate Communications Manager at Vodafone and has volunteered with the CIPR for the past 11 years. Source Steven Shepperson-Smith.
⏯️ RESTING WADDSCON: We’re retiring the monthly WaddsCon event for the time being. 18 months after launching Wadds Inc. we’ve never been busier. Organising events is hard work and isn’t a core activity. We’re going to watch and see how the industry events market plays out as people return to the office. Source Stephen Waddington.
😎 COMMS HERO: I lit a fire in my community by asking for suggestions for my upcoming #CommsHero session on the weird, wonderful and blatant bizarre in public relations. Responses among the 150+ comments include the value of PR degrees, Chartered status, the NLA and industry associations. Source Stephen Waddington.
Research and insight
🇪🇺 GDPR CONSULTATION: The UK government has launched a consultation on post-Brexit changes to GDPR legislation. It says that it wants to simplify the sharing of medical data and reduce the burden of compliance on small businesses. The consultation is open until 19 November 2021. Spotted Phil Szomszor.
👨💻️ INFLUENCER MARKETING CODE: ISBA has launched a Code of Conduct for influencer marketing, aimed at raising standards and improving transparency for consumers. The code seeks to address negative issues related to influencer marketing. Perhaps ISBA could now turn its attention to bots, opaque ad platforms, and fraudulent inventory. Spotted Stephen Waddington.
🔍 BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE TOOLKIT: Practitioners don’t know what they don’t know about behavioural science according to research from Lynn PR. A toolkit includes nine key behavioural science principles, and how they can help you to deliver marketing and communications goals. Source Shayoni Lynn.
🤯 BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION: New research supports the assertion that internal communication has been critical to helping organisations transform during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study published in the Harvard Business Review used financial performance and increased reputation as indicators of success. Source Stephen Waddington.
Media
🇧🇪 EU CORRESPONDENT: The Financial Times' North of England Correspondent and Enterprise Editor, Andy Bounds, has announced he will return to Brussels to cover Brexit, trade and financial regulation. It leaves the North of England without an editorial resource. Spotted Julian Christopher.
📱DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION: The Times and The Sunday Times are aiming to grow their digital subscription business with investments live reporting and visually driven storytelling. The newspapers announced a new commissioning process that prioritises visual, digital journalism. Spotted Uday Radia.
📺 MORGAN JOINS NEWS CORP: Piers Morgan is set to join the Murdoch-owned News Corp and Fox News Media. It’s his first major new presenting job since leaving ITV's Good Morning Britain in March. The show will air on the newly-announced talkTV in the UK, Fox Nation in the US, and Sky News Australia. Spotted Alan Morrison.
Social media and platforms
💷 UNPAID INVOICES: In a move criticised as reputation washing, Facebook has announced a $100-million commitment to a programme that supports small businesses owned by women and minorities by buying up their outstanding invoices. Facebook estimates the program will support approximately 30,000 small businesses. Spotted Kristian Hoareau Foged.
💍 SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT: Facebook has been experimenting with reducing the amount of political content it puts in users’ news feeds. The move is a tacit acknowledgment that the way the company’s algorithms work can be a problem. Spotted Stephen Waddington.
👧 INSTAGRAM IGNORES TOXICITY: A leaked document from Facebook suggests that the company knows that Instagram is toxic for teen girls. Research published by The Wall Street Journal shows a significant teen mental-health issue that Facebook plays down in public. Spotted Mark Stouse.
👥 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: LinkedIn has introduced new features to help grow and deepen your engagement with your audience. To do this it looks in-depth into building a community with long-form content and unlocking greater exposure and engagement with live events. Spotted Alan Morrison.
Lynn PR, included in a story in this week’s newsletter, is a Wadds Inc. client.