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Social media has opened a new frontier in customer service, allowing communicators to find and respond directly to customers in real time. But it has also made customer service something of a spectator sport. Speaking at PR News’ Digital PR & Marketing Summit in Miami, Brandi Boatner, social & influencer communications lead at IBM, shared a few critical questions to ask to determine whether social customer care is right for your brand.

It takes more time to engage thoughtfully than it does to schedule a few tweets and call it a day, but it’s a solid investment. If you’re going to commit to using Twitter to really build your brand, Adam Snyder of MUFG (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group) has some advice for you.

Integrating PR and marketing makes eminent sense, as we know. Getting the two groups to work together, however, is far easier said than done. The first step often is convening a meeting of the two teams. To prepare for such a session you can ramp up your knowledge of meeting tactics and etiquette. You might also want to come armed with a series of questions to spur creative thinking and to remind staff the customer should be at the center of your efforts.

Twitter announced the new Video Website Card Oct. 17, an ad format that “combines the power of video with the ability to drive users back to a site to learn more or take action in the moment.” In basic terms, it’s an auto-playing video that, if a viewer taps to learn more, anchors to the top of the screen and continues playing while a website loads below.

One of the most uncomfortable sessions during the recent PRSA International Conference last week was a breakout about losing control of your brand’s social media account. Fortunately there are steps communicators can take to help avoid such situations, although many of the tactics sound similar to those used in crisis management. Yet how many brands are prepared for a crisis? Does your brand have an updated crisis plan and conduct regular crisis exercises?

Our weekly roundup of trends, news and personnel moves in communications and marketing. This week we feature stories about the Harvey Weinstein affair, a report about information overload coming from marketers and a shadow board coming to the PR Council.

Facebook wants to be your everything. Think about all the features that have been added since the days when you couldn’t do much more than post a status or picture: games, trending news, classified ads, fitness tracking, movie tickets, ride hailing, the list goes on. And now, the social media giant’s latest endeavors include food delivery and a LinkedIn-like resume feature.

The insidious nature of the Harvey Weinstein situation has become clear. Not only have the alleged inappropriate actions of Mr. Weinstein caused the apparent downfall of one of Hollywood’s top producers, the scandal also has touched the company he co-founded as well as NBC News, the Clinton Foundation and Amazon. James Corden, Woody Allen, Mayim Bialik and Al Michaels also were caught in the thicket. Can communicators do anything in situations like these when the boss and founder of a company is alleged to be a deviant?

Every day, PR is doing its job rather well. Communicators are masterfully engaged in storytelling, managing reputations and fostering relationships with its various and varied constituencies. But one major constituency it’s still suffering reputation problems with is the media. Is there a misunderstanding that PR is called in only when all else is lost, when it “comes to that”?

Reporting the data from a communications campaign is more than just writing up a tally of various metrics. Too many communicators try to use measurement simply as an end in itself, a gauge of how well a campaign performed after it’s over. Rather, analytics should inform every stage of the planning process, says Carrie Schum, executive vice president of strategic planning, analytics and research at Porter Novelli.