✅ Monday briefing: Obscuring print data, Government FOI review, UK AI strategy, PR talent market, office return data, content analyser, Zuck image washing, and more...
Media, best and bad practice, research and strategy, industry, tools, 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.
Media
📉 OBSCURING PRINT DATA: The Guardian has joined News UK and The Daily Telegraph in making its print circulation figures private. The publisher has decided to put more focus on metrics that reflect its broader portfolio of digital products. Spotted Alan Morrison and Andrew Bruce Smith.
Best and bad practice
⛔ GOVERNMENT FOI REVIEW: The UK government is set to review its unit that handles Freedom of Information requests. The move comes after OpenDemocracy won a landmark court case which criticised the Cabinet Office’s ‘Clearing House’ unit for a lack of transparency. Spotted Alan Morrison.
⛽ FUEL FRAMING: A tweet by Nadine Dorries Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport will almost certainly appear in every deck about communications in the next 12 months. It highlights the misuse of behavioural science in communications. Source: Stephen Waddington.
Research and strategy
📃 UK AI STRATEGY: The UK Government’s National AI strategy outlines plans to invest in the AI ecosystem, to support the transition to an AI-enabled economy, and to ensure the governance of technologies encourages innovation and protects rights and values. It includes a commitment to R&D and proposes initiatives to address skills gaps. Source Andrew Bruce Smith.
Industry
⭐️ PR TALENT MARKET: The UK is close to full employment according to official data. However, employers in the public relations sector haven’t caught up with how quickly and how far the market has shifted in favour of the employee according to recruiter Reuben Sinclair. Source Stephen Waddington.
🎒 TRAINING SCHEME: 3Thinkrs is seeking to cooperate with other digital, marketing and PR agencies to solve the entry level onboarding and training challenge created by COVID-19. Since the pandemic organisations have struggled to onboard and train entry level staff. Source Ruth Jones.
💼 OFFICE RETURN DATA: The future of the PR industry appears to be hybrid at least for the time being. A Wadds Inc. poll of more than 180 practitioners in the UK found that more than half have returned to the office at least in a part time capacity. Less than two per cent have returned full time. Source: Stephen Waddington.
❓ SURVEY FINAL CALL: You still have time to respond to the ICCO and PRovoke Media World PR Report survey with Opinium Research. The annual report is a useful industry benchmark. The deadline is at the end of September. Source Maja Pawinska Sims.
Tools
📔 DIGITAL NOTEBOOK: ReMarkable is a digital note taking paper tablet that is designed for reading, writing and sketching. The tablet syncs to PCs and phones so you can have your notes with you at all times and creates files for all your projects. Spotted Shayoni Lynn.
🔧 TEST ORGANIC FACEBOOK POSTS: Facebook is rolling out its improved A/B post testing tool. You can now run tests with different versions of text, link, image, and video to find the best performing combination. Spotted Alan Morrison.
🐝 CONTENT ANALYSER: BuzzSumo’s Content Analyzer is an inspirational index of billions of articles published around the globe. You can use it as a launchpad for content creation, a content finder for social media, and audit the performance of websites. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
🦦 SEND OTTER: Otter has made it easier to bring the virtual assistant to Zoom meetings with new features added to its Google Chrome browser extension. The extension will now provide the option to Add Otter Meeting Notes when setting up a new meeting in Google Calendar. Spotted Kristian Foged.
Social media and platforms
🖼️ ZUCK IMAGE WASHING: Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerburg, has signed off a new initiative called Project Amplify according to The New York Times. The project is an effort to show users pro-Facebook stories and to distance himself from scandals. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
🔧 BRAND VANDALISM: Havas Media discovered its Facebook page was hijacked over the past year and is currently posting random viral videos that have nothing to do with the media agency or its clients. The page feature Facebook’s verified checkmark and had more than 120,000 followers. Spotted Stuart Bruce.
📝 FACEBOOK TRANSPARENCY REPORT: Facebook has revealed how it decides what “problematic or low-quality” content should be demoted in its news feed. The published its content distribution guidelines outlining the types of posts that are throttled in the newsfeed. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.
3Thinkrs and Reuben Sinclair mentioned in this newsletter are both Wadds Inc. clients.