The SCIENCE BENEATH the ART of PUBLIC RELATIONS ™
August 12, 2015
Justin Walden, Ph.D., College at Brockport, Denise Bortree, Ph.D., and Marcia DiStaso, Ph.D., 
Penn State University

When bloggers accept compensation for a product review, it influences how much control they have over their editorial content. In a newly released study, researchers investigated how bloggers produce product reviews and how rewards effects their credibility.

A recent change to the US Federal Trade Commission policy requires people who receive compensation for writing product reviews on social media to disclose this connection. When working with blogggers, it is the PR professionals responsibility to make sure the posts fully disclose even a nominal product or gift. Read more.
Sarab Kochhar, Ph.D., Institute for Public Relations

Last week, IPR's leading researchers attended the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in San Francisco to gain insights into the studies shaping our profession. The sessions provided a great opportunity to determine both the trends in PR and what is most relevant in the realm of data.

As IPR's Director of Research, Dr. Kochhar attended a session featuring a panel of leaders on big data. The models they shared will greatly influence IPR's Measurement Commission, as they begin the initial phases of a white paper on big data and the profession. Read more. 

From a leader in corporate communications at PBS to a specialist on big data from Penn State, the 2015 Measurement Summit will feature a range of measurement experts from various disciplines in public relations. Educators and PR professionals will hear from and interact with the leaders who are turning measurement into actionable insight. The Summit and the Fifth Annual Conclave Meeting for Social Media Measurement will take place on October 12-13 in Durham, NH. Register here.

The Arthur W. Page Society, in alliance with IPR, is conducting their annual competition to find research that contributes to the profession's body of knowledge and provides practical suggestions on how to improve the corporate public relations function. Case studies will be accepted by students at accredited schools of business, communications or journalism that focus on corporate communications and the practice of public relations. Deadline for submissions is January 15, 2016. Read more.