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Last week we told you despite a number of worries, the sky was not falling as far as Facebook is concerned. More evidence comes this week, from the Pew Research Center, whose survey confirms many of the trends contained in reports other groups have issued. Yes, Facebook dominates with Americans older than 18, although youths tend to prefer Snapchat and Instagram.

It is obvious that who buys what is of critical importance to marketers and communicators. Statista’s newest consumer survey looked at that question from a gender perspective and found plenty of traditional assumptions remain valid. It also found a surprise or two, meaning the quest for knowledge of your audience remains an important challenge.

Is the glass half full for communicators? The just-released PR News Salary Survey of some 900 communicators shows PR pros seem to be a satisfied group in terms of the money they make for the work they do. Base salaries best the average for American professionals and raises are rewarded often, although most are modest. On the other hand, more than a few communicators told us they weren’t completely satisfied with their salary. Finding the right balance of salary, bonuses, soft benefits and intangibles to recruit and retain the most talented staffers is an issue that adept communications leaders will continue to address.

With International Woman’s Day approaching this week and Women’s History Month already here it was heartening to see several PR firms being recognized for progressive policies toward women. Both FleishmanHillard and Edelman were named to the National Association of Female Executives’ (NAFE) list of top companies for women. Still, it’s clear much more progress is warranted.

Created last week, Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW) named its regional leaders as we went to press. For N America, Chris Foster becomes president, N America, BCW. Previously he was EVP, global business.

At the Oscars, celebrity influences spoke out as conscious, mindful advocates instead of talking heads. Some of the most significant moments include the snubbing of Ryan Seacrest, a passionate advocation for dreamers and the suggestion of a rider that would make inclusion in productions a requirement. These tactics have implications that reverberate for beyond the Hollywood Hills.

The “Facebook Apocalypse” dominated conversations at Social Media Marketing World 2018, as brands prepare for a post-organic new world order. But for communicators, the future doesn’t have to be a dystopia of direct deposits into Facebook’s bank account. By mastering short-form and live video, focusing on storytelling and remembering to keep the humanity intact, your social media strategy can shift focus away from the brand and toward the consumer.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been around since the 1950s, though you’d think it’s brand new judging by the number of recent news articles mentioning it. Communicators can take advantage of AI now and they needn’t be engineers to do so, argues Jared Carneson, global lead, social innovation, for FleishmanHillard. There is a slew of tools that flirt with the AI space that can ease communicators’ workload. Carneson offers a look at several and urges communicators to experiment.

Six years ago, Carly Keeny had a hard time convincing her colleagues at United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey that social media was anything more than a place to store content. Since then, however, Keeny has led the organization to viewing social media as a powerful and cost-efficient way to promote its mission. Keeny’s team focuses primarily on three social media KPIs: applause (likes), amplification (retweets/shares) and conversation (questions and comments).

Spotify went public and valued the company at $23 billion, but it has been providing value for brands since it revamped the Spotify for Brands program last year. The company utilizes user data in multiple ways to aid brand advertisements, but can it withstand scrutiny over how much data it collects from users now that it has entered into the open market?