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The practice of buying social media followers has been around nearly as long as social media itself. And it’s still unclear whether platforms like Twitter and Facebook are responsible for weeding out the fake accounts. So, how can a brand separate influencer fact from fiction?

Are #MeToo moments part of a movement, or have they become a marketing tactic? To many, the Jan. 28 Grammy Awards fell short of the former, paying lip service to the women of #MeToo and #TimesUp without making a real statement. Most of the night’s award winners were men, with female performers like SZA—who was nominated for five awards—losing to the likes of The Weeknd and Bruno Mars.

At the PR News Top Women in PR Luncheon on January 23 keynoter Melissa Bernstein of toy company Melissa & Doug shared all the misses among the hits of puzzles, toys and stuffed animals over the company’s 30 years. At their headquarters in Wilton, CT, there’s a whole room dedicated to failure—toys that seemed like such a good idea until they weren’t. As Melissa pointed out, it’s only through repeated failure that she’s found great success.

Snapchat’s coming redesign, which aims to court advertisers and make the interface easier to use (especially for the 35-and-above set) is currently being tested in the U.K., Australia and Canada. But so far, users in those countries have not been impressed, posting negative reviews on the App Store and tweeting complaints at Snap Inc.’s support handle.

There’s no crisis management cure-all for organizations linked to heinous, life-destroying and unchecked behavior like Larry Nassar’s, but there should be a guiding principle—learn from your errors, and show that you’re learning and changing. Two crisis management experts weigh in.

Smart communicators are readying their social media plans for Facebook’s soon-to-come algorithmic shift. At PR News’ Social Media Summit Feb. 22-23 in Huntington Beach, CA, Jacque Marianno, digital strategies director at the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association will touch on the coming changes and discuss how there are still ways to make organic social content work. Marianno sat down with PR News to share how communicators can bolster organic reach and prepare for the changes to come.

It may be a long road ahead for Toys R Us, the iconic retailer that said it will be closing nearly 200 of its 800 stores beginning next month. The brand is in chapter 11, yet it intends to rebound. Internal communications best practices recommend treating departing and remaining employees with respect. For Toys R Us, which soon will have a lot of both kinds of employees, this lesson could be crucial.

Each January, PR News celebrates women who not only are best-in-class communicators, they are leaders who continue to inspire the next generations of women to rise to the C-suite level at brands, nonprofit organizations and agencies. On Jan. 23, 2018, PR News once again honored the Top Women in PR at New York’s Grand Hyatt.

While influencers are, by definition, solo acts, working with a few influencers on a single campaign is a lot like a team sport. Different players have their roles and everyone adds something special to help the team win. Here are five steps for brands to follow when assembling a successful influencer team.

Our weekly roundup of news, trends and personnel moves in PR and marketing. This week’s stories include a tumble at USA Gymnastics, Nike goes pink in Australia for social media video, Facebook integrates its board of directors and