Stories by Caysey Welton

It’s time to celebrate our independence! For communications professionals that means now is the time to connect your brand to America’s biggest summer celebration. And to commemorate America’s 237 birthday here are 13 brands (in honor of the 13 original colonies) that celebrate the holiday in style.

Creating quality content without keeping your target audience in mind is an empty endeavor. The same goes for content created in a silo without the benefit of an overarching strategy.

It took less than two weeks for Instagram’s newest video feature to overtake Vine for social media shares. On June 27 Topsy reported that Instagram video shares were north of 1.5 million, versus Vine, which came in just south of a million.

New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was arrested yesterday for murder and five other counts of gun-related crimes. In addition to Hernandez, Cleveland Browns’ Ausar Walcott was also arrested yesterday for attempted murder.

Video is decidedly the most engaging content on the Web. With that in mind, there are many challenges and opportunities at stake for PR pros looking to leverage the medium. Tim Baker, vice president of digital strategy for MWW Group offers tips and tricks for the PR pro looking to master video content.

Twinkies connoisseurs rejoice. Hostess on Sunday announced that the spongy yellow confection is returning to shelves on July 15.

Facebook on Thursday introduced video for Instagram, which the company acquired last year for $1 billion. While the announcement came as little surprise to reporters and bloggers following the story, it has left PR pros scratching their heads wondering how to leverage the social platform’s latest feature.

Serena Williams has a history of speaking her mind and shooting straight from the hip. However, she may have crossed the line in a recent Rolling Stone interview.

Thursday Facebook will be holding a press event that is creating volumes of intrigue and speculation. TechCrunch reports that the social media giant may introduce video features for its photo-sharing product Instagram.

Companies like Apple, Facebook and Google may have made a mistake by swiftly denying cooperation with the NSA.