Digital & Technology

Earlier this week, IBM and Amazon said they will pull back from facial recognition technology contracts with law enforcement. The use of machine learning technology that detects faces has come under renewed scrutiny for racial bias. In addition, the technology is known to be flawed, particularly when applied to non-white faces. Until today, Microsoft was notably quiet on the issue, given it too has provided facial recognition software to police.

CompTIA’s senior director of global social media Kelly Stone shared LinkedIn Live best practices with PRNEWS senior content manager Sophie Maerowitz.

One of the pandemic’s few bright spots is that it has been a catalyst for communicators’ creativity. Examples abound, including a virtual red-carpet/press screening that National Geographic Channel staged for a new series recently.

The latest battle between the White House and social media platforms began on May 26, when Twitter attached a “Fact Check” notification to President Trump’s tweet which included misinformation about mail-in voting.

We’ve all heard about the new normal, but what does it look like in the sector you represent? One way to find out is to use predictive landscapes that help communicators build possible behavioral models. Here’s an example using the travel industry.

The PRNEWS staff comes across many examples of brand advertising and communications every day. We have compiled a weekly assessment, with staff members providing their choices of the most notable, good or bad. We hope these brief examples will provide a learning experience about what works and what to avoid.

PRNEWS judged a stellar group of candidates for this year’s Digital PR Awards. In digital, PR can innovate into all sorts of new forms. We noticed some trends among the winners. 

As the world of mainstream social media enters its second decade—and at a time when global attention is understandably fixated on coronavirus-related content—many communicators find themselves at a loss. Still, there is no better time than the present to start experimenting with new features, so we asked several social media experts to recommend the features that they see as overlooked. 

Hallmark found inspiration for its latest Mother’s Day commercial from a Facebook fan who shared her journey of parenting a child with a disability on its page. The fan noted that not all motherhood looks the same, but should be celebrated nevertheless.

Fake news is not a new phenomenon. Its proliferation during the pandemic, though, when life and death are at stake, has elevated the issue to a new level. As a result, Hill + Knowlton’s (US) new analytics chief John Gillooly believes verifying data will be hot after the pandemic subsides. He also thinks it’s important for people to laugh now. Even for data analysts.