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This is one in a series of articles about the history of PR as part of our celebration of PRNEWS’ 75th anniversary. The series is part of a partnership with the Museum of Public Relations. This article looks at Ivy Lee, considered the father of PR. Some 100 years ago Lee established foundations for much of what PR pros do to this day. The list includes the press release, crisis communications and branding, which he did for John D. Rockefeller.

What’s ahead for social media in 2020? For starters, it appears the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will continue to hound brands and influencers who misrepresent themselves to consumers on social. Fortunately, the FTC has re-issued its guidelines in a plain-language format. There’s even a video.

The average person is overloaded with content. Bombarded with ads, email, text and video, many of us have turned off. We ignore nearly everything. Into this hostile climate comes the communicator. Instead of throwing up your hands, we offer author Jamie Mustard, who provides some basic solutions to this complicated problem.

Our (almost) year-end look at social media engagement by B2C and B2B brands shows a pattern in both categories. Engagement is off year over year. Data is provided exclusively to PRNEWS by data partner Shareablee.

IPR Measurement Commission chair Mark Weiner whacks at measurement’s version of sacred cows as he tees up PRNEWS readers for success in 2020. Among the myths he dispels are: everyone is using AI for measurement, you must have a real-time measurement effort to succeed, and PR measurement kills creativity.

This is the second in a series of Intrado Digital Media-sponsored articles about measurement. Intrado Digital Media president Ben Chodor discusses the importance of aligning your measurement efforts with business objectives. The first article in the series appeared in the November 2019 edition of PRNEWS.

The turkey has been picked apart, the wishbone wished upon, and the rounds of coffee are morphing into stronger beverages. It’s the day after Thanksgiving. Yet some family members have vanished. They’re braving the crowds at the mall on Black Friday. How should PR craft messages about retail brands opening (or closing) their doors today?

In the true spirit of this holiday, we are reminded that giving back need not only happen on Thanksgiving proper. Several companies have leaned into giving back before, and after, Turkey Day. Here are some examples of social good initiatives we can all be thankful for.

The C-suite increasingly is asking communicators to supply more authoritative data about their efforts, particularly in earned media. New demographic and firmographic technologies can help identify audience personas and find potential new audiences.

Every December, in the midst of holiday celebration, PRNEWS hosts our annual PR People & Rising Stars awards. While we certainly consider all of our awards shows to be feel-good events, there’s something extra special about this one. Celebrating the actual people who make the campaigns run, put out the crisis fires and lead their teams to success, along with the rising stars under 30 who are coming up fast, takes on an added significance during this festive season of togetherness.