Stories by Matthew Schwartz

A new study shows that, for Millennials, user-generated content (UGC) is 20% more influential when it comes to purchasing and 35% more memorable than other types of media.

Hardly a day goes by without a big acquisition of a hot startup in the digital media world, and, most of the time, those acquisitions have a pretty significant potential or actual impact on how people communicate.

Sure, we now live a digital age, but we thought the expression, “Never argue with a man who buys ink by the barrel” was still apt for the latest PR debacle at Rutgers University: Rutgers University Athletic Director Julie Hermann saying to a journalism class, “That’d be great” about the prospect of The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger dying. PR pros can commence wincing.

It’s a function of living in an increasingly digital age: The more time we spend in front of a computer screen, the more motivated we are to get out into the field, press the flesh and talk to colleagues belly to belly. This is particularly true for PR pros and communicators when it comes to professional development.

It’s April Fools’ Day today, the day that brands and organizations can poke a little fun at their fans and followers or, better yet, themselves, without fear of recrimination. At the same time, April Fools’ Day reminds us that using humor to communicate a message can be serious business.

Used to be, PR pros were called only after a marketing campaign was fully baked and asked to knock out a press release and work with the media to get the message out. No longer. These days, the currency for communicators lies in strategic decision-making, as indicated by PR News’ 2014 Salary Survey.

The rap on Millennials, or people born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s, is that they are narcissists with an overwhelming sense of entitlement and an underwhelming work ethic.

“Likes” and “followers” remain two of the top metrics that PR pros look to when they track their social media campaigns. Unfortunately, the law of diminishing returns kicked in on those indices a while ago.

For the past few years, the New York Knicks have put on a clinic on how not to conduct media relations. With Jim Dolan at the helm, Knicks’ brass has valued secrecy more than storytelling. They prefer to hide from the media rather than face the fallout from nearly a decade and a half of […]

Social media has quickly moved to the top of the PR food chain. Sure, communicators have to know their way around social platforms and what distinguishes one social channel from another. But if PR pros want to advance within their organization—and land bigger salaries—they should reconsider some of the profession’s more traditional skillsets.