✅ Join Socially Mobile: Empowering diversity and driving change in public relations
Your week ahead in management, media and public relations
Thursday was National Social Mobility Day in the UK. To mark the occasion, we shared stories about the Socially Mobile programme and its work to improve diversity at a management level within the public relations industry.
Socially Mobile is a fast-paced, ten-week online executive education course that offers an unrivalled immersive and collaborative learning experience designed to move public relations practitioners from a tactical to a strategic role and increase their earning potential. We run three cohorts a year.
Sarah Waddington CBE and I founded the community interest company three years ago. Its outcomes are greater opportunities and better and higher-paid jobs for its growing cohort of 100+ graduates.
Here’s what some of our graduates have to say.
Beth Broomby - Socially Mobile promotes a genuine commitment to diversity in the public relations industry by actively working towards change and empowering cohorts of practitioners to do the same.
Lynne Carstairs - Socially Mobile stretches and develops students in unexpected ways, providing new skills, an expanded network, and renewed hope for future growth and success.
Catherine Hancock - A transformative and empowering experience for practitioners from diverse backgrounds, offering practical skills, networking opportunities, and a supportive community that fosters personal and professional growth while promoting equality and diversity in the industry.
Leanne Hughes - The course gives students an excellent grounding in management communications. It fosters a supportive environment where shared experiences help students from diverse backgrounds recognise and believe in their potential and worth.
Fully funded places are provided to those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as under-represented and under-served groups, including Black and ethnic minority practitioners, the LGBTQ+ community, women returners, and those with disabilities.
The next cohort starts in September. You can apply by following this link.
We rely on sponsorship, paid places, and volunteers' goodwill to keep the programme running. Could YOU help us remain sustainable for the next two years? There are several ways in which you can support Socially Mobile:
✅ Corporate sponsorship (from £3,000 per year)
✅ Sponsorship of places for others (£750 per person)
✅ Using Socially Mobile for your own team’s personal development (£750 per person)
✅ Share our details and posts so we reach the people who deserve to benefit the most
Please email or call me if you're able to help. Thank you.
UK election 2024
🗳️ GOVERNMENT DISTRUST: The latest British Social Attitudes report reveals record-low trust in Britain's government. Brexit disappointment, NHS dissatisfaction, and the cost of living crisis have fueled disenchantment, with a majority now supporting electoral reform and increased regional autonomy in England. Source: National Centre for Social Research.
🗳️ ELECTION SPENDING: Labour candidates dramatically outspent Conservatives on social media ads early in the UK's snap election campaign. The gap reflects Labour's poll lead and central coordination, while some Tory candidates avoided mentioning their party as they trail by 21 points. Source: The Financial Times.
Management
📊 BLACK COMMS SURVEY: The UK Black Comms Network's 2024 survey aims to measure progress since 2020 when over half of respondents' companies pledged to support Black colleagues. The anonymous, 6-minute survey, in partnership with Opinium and PRWeek UK, seeks to understand the industry's current state for Black PR and comms professionals. Source: UK Black Comms Network.
🗣️ MEDIA AND CONTENT OVERLOAD: A provocative essay published in Public Relations Review argues that organisations should prioritise quality over quantity to avoid overwhelming stakeholders and the public conversation. It suggests limiting media and content creation to promote corporate social responsibility and deliver more meaningful stakeholder communications. Source: Wadds Inc.
Artificial intelligence
🍎 APPLE AI: Apple unveiled ‘Apple Intelligence’, introducing invisible, accessible AI across their ecosystem to improve users' lives. Leveraging their interconnected devices, strong privacy, and enhanced Siri capabilities, Apple aims to make AI disappear into the background and stimulate consumer upgrades, potentially winning the consumer AI race against rivals. Source: Section.
🤖 AI HYPE MISMATCH: Despite the buzz around AI products such as ChatGPT, only two per cent of surveyed Brits use them daily. The study found a "mismatch" between the AI hype and actual public interest, with younger people being the most eager adopters of the technology. Source: Reuters Institute.
🤖 AI ADOPTION INSIGHTS: A new management paper highlights the need for public relations practitioners to adopt a relationship perspective to survive AI disruption. While there's no clear path to adopting AI at scale, tensions around AI vendor markets and media rights must be resolved and organisations should implement governance and training for practitioners. Source: Wadds Inc.
🤖 AI HYPE VS REALITY: I'm discussing the gap between AI's promise and reality in PR at PRmoment's AI Masterclass on 2 July. While AI is useful for routine tasks, the copy it generates lacks emotional and cultural awareness, and there are challenges to ethics, copyright, and workflow. Follow the link for further information and use WADDS10 for a ten per cent discount. Source: PRMoment.
Media
📈 MEDIA STUDIES THRIVE: Enrollment in Media and Communication Studies is rising, especially at prestigious UK universities. The discipline plays a vital role in tackling global issues like disinformation and AI, contributing to the creative industry's £108 billion boost to the economy despite being undervalued by some. Source: The British Academy.
🔍 GOOGLE AI HIT: Google's AI-generated search summaries, called AI Overviews, appear for nearly a quarter of news-related queries. The overviews push organic publisher links far down the page, potentially devastating their search visibility and traffic. Source: Press Gazette.
Social media and platforms
🕵️ COUNTERING LINKEDIN FAKERY: Fake LinkedIn profiles surged 152% in 2022, posing risks like reputational harm and data theft. To combat this, individuals and companies should scrutinise connection requests, audit employee lists, and leverage LinkedIn's security tools, such as two-factor authentication and email verification. Source: Neville Hobson.
😞 GUILD CLOSURE: Professional networking platform Guild will shut down on October 1st, 2024, due to challenges in securing further investment or an acquisition. The closure impacts over 108,000 members and 7,000 communities, with Guild pledging to handle data and refunds appropriately. Source: Guild.
🎉NANO INFLUENCERS ROI: New research reveals that social media influencers with smaller followings, known as nano-influencers, deliver significantly better returns on marketing investments than macro-influencers. Despite having 32 times fewer followers, nano-influencers generate about one-fourth of the revenue while driving much higher engagement rates. Source: MIT Sloan Management Review.
🔒 X HIDES LIKES: X has made all likes private, meaning users can only see their own likes but not others. The change aims to protect privacy, but some speculate it may boost engagement. It's one of many controversial changes since Elon Musk acquired the platform in 2022. Source: The Associated Press.
📰 LINKEDIN NEWSLETTERS: LinkedIn has expanded newsletter access to all members and introduced new features like a redesigned reading experience, AI-powered cover images, and embedded profiles. With a 59% increase in newsletter creators and 47% higher engagement, LinkedIn aims to accelerate adoption further and help creators grow their audiences. Source: LinkedIn.
📈 REACHING REDDIT USERS: Reddit usage in the UK has jumped from 4% in 2019 to 7% post-pandemic, with a user base skewing towards young, urban males. The report reveals Reddit users are more likely to be single, LGBTQ+, educated, and financially optimistic, exhibiting distinct online behaviours and brand preferences compared to the general population. Source: YouGov.
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Thank you to all of the members of our community for sharing and debating the stories in the newsletter this week. We started a UK election chat this week if you would like to discuss how the campaigns are playing out behind the scenes.