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Every day we throw something out, tossing it into the garbage or recycling bin without much thought. At home, we cart the trash can up to the curb (or have our kids do it) and… Continued

PR pros aren’t sweating the congressional scrutiny of social media and the push for new regulations, with some seeing the changes as beneficial to an industry that has long operated in opacity. The hearings last week saw Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testify on Capitol Hill. More regulation—both by the platforms themselves and external agencies—is likely to result. But this is not raising alarm among communicators.

While some of the initial figures for Nike’s latest iteration of the Just Do It effort with Colin Kaepernick are mixed so far, the brand likely weighed potential costs and benefits before embarking on the campaign. Despite protests against the brand this week, Nike knew what it was doing when it entered the conversation on racial discrimination. It’s important to understand why.

Twitter has finally banned conspiracy theorist and Infowars host Alex Jones from the platform, citing violations of its abusive behavior policy. While this may seem like a step in the right direction for the social media site, which has been criticized over the past month for allowing Jones to remain active on Twitter despite evidence of previous policy violations, there are still questions surrounding whether this was just the platform bending to public pressure and how the policies actually deal with hate speech and will do so going forward.

Americans’ relationship with Facebook: it’s complicated. Six months after the revelations surrounding the illegal harvesting of user data to manipulate public opinion ahead of the 2016 presidential election, peoples’ trust in social media still suffers and companies and individuals have changed their online behavior in response to it.

After an Emirates Airline flight originating from Dubai landed in New York just after 9 a.m. on Sept. 5 with over 100 passengers complaining of illness symptoms, the spread of information was seemingly as swift as the reported illness. And as is typical during public health concerns, much of the information was later proven to be incorrect or misleading.

Survey after survey returns the same verdict: writing remains one of the constants when it comes to success in communications. For that reason it never hurts for PR pros to try to improve their writing. FleishmanHillard SVP and senior partner Rich Eichwald tells you how to become a better writer by using your ears…and your feet.

Colleen Young knows a thing or two about online patient communities. As online community director for Mayo Clinic, she is internationally known for building patient communities that thrive. At Mayo Clinic Connect, Young has orchestrated a virtual community connecting patients to each other and to Mayo Clinic medical expertise. Young will be participating in a session at the upcoming Healthcare Social Media Summit Oct. 23 in Baltimore. She previewed her panel in this recent Q&A.

It may be difficult to separate personal feelings from professional ones when considering the story of Stephen Bannon, the former Trump White House strategist, being dis-invited to appear at the New Yorker Festival next month. Nevertheless, the incident provides several timely lessons for communicators in these uncertain times.

This past Labor Day, Nike announced Colin Kaepernick as the main face for the 30th anniversary of its “Just Do It” campaign. Heaps of praise, and condemnation, were immediate. #BoycottNike continues to trend, as conservatives across the country destroy the Nike goods they paid good money for in protest, and Nike shares took a slight dip.