Stories by Hayley Jennings

No one needs to tell a communications team twice that if “you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Creating a strategy which not only allows for a defensive response when something hits, but an anticipatory plan of possible situations, provides an offense your organization can depend on. Join PRNEWS on Dec. 10 for a crisis webinar: “Why a Strong Defense is the Best Offense.”

Instagram caused an uproar this week when it unintentionally released a glimpse of a potential update to feeds on the platform. On the morning of Dec. 27, some users found that their Instagram interface had shifted from its usual vertical layout to a horizontal one, in which users had to tap or swipe through one post at a time to get to the next—similar to the Stories feature. Rather than scrolling quickly through posts and ads that weren’t of interest, users had to interact with every post in one way or another.

January and February are considered the best times to apply for a new job, which means if you’re looking for new PR talent you’re likely getting ready to post some new listings in the first few weeks of 2019. Here are three questions you should ask every candidate for any Communications position to make sure the person you hire is truly right for the role.

Whatever your situation, consistently learning the ins and outs of data and applying them to your work can be tricky. As measurement gradually becomes a larger part of PR, there is a whole slew of terminology you may be expected to know, and it may rightfully feel intimidating. Here are three data terms you need to know and how they apply to the communications field.

Although many brands have already made the shift to marketing and communicating on LinkedIn, some may be hesitant to jump into building a presence on LinkedIn because of preconceived notions about the platform and what kind of content it should contain. The good news is, a lot of those notions are likely wrong and should no longer hold you back.

After the spread of misinformation on Facebook prior leading up to the 2016 presidential election, the social giant began a partnership with journalists to factcheck and flag false news stories on the platform. Now, two years after the program began, some participating reporters are calling for its discontinuation, alleging that the partnership is little more than a crisis PR stunt and that Facebook has compromised their journalistic integrity.

Instagram announced that users can now send voices messages via the Direct messaging platform in the app. Audio messages can be up to one minute long and can be sent in private and group chats. A second announcement revealed Instagram’s beta testing of creator accounts for influencers, which will “give the app’s high-profile individuals specialized tools.”

As part of an investigation into misinformation on the internet, a British parliamentary committee has just released internal Facebook emails and other company documents from 2012 through 2015. Released on Dec. 5, the documents were “originally sealed as evidence in a lawsuit brought against Facebook by Six4Three, an app developer,” according to the New York Times, and primarily focus on the company’s use of user data in conjunction with other partners.

It’s easy to forget that social media is a relatively new phenomenon now that it’s so deeply ingrained in our lives. But even as it has grown and evolved over the past decade or so, the rule book for social platforms is still being formed day by day. And it’s remarkably easy for companies, leaders and individuals to screw up what could have been a perfectly normal tweet. As proven by Rudy Giuliani’s recent Twitter grammatical error that unintentionally linked to a domain that was then used by a comedian for a political prank, the book of best practices on Twitter could still use some tweaking.

Famed astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson has been accused of sexual misconduct by three women, ranging in time from 1984 to the present day. Tyson has drafted a response he entilted, “On Being Accused,” and posted to Facebook on Saturday, defending his behavior after his most recent accuser, a production assistant on his show Cosmos, gave an interview to Patheos about her claims.