Seventy-three percent of journalists today use social media to build relationships with PR professional and their organizations. According to Cision's 2016 State of Media Report, journalists rely heavily on social media for the latest updates on a hot topic and to establish rapport with communication professionals.

While Twitter and Facebook remain the leading platforms, several new social channels have popped up in the last year. Live-streaming apps Periscope and Meerkat are gaining traction, and 10.6 percent of respondents believe Periscope will grow in value in 2016. Read more. 

Impressions are definitely not what they seem. The metric started as a foundation for publishers and advertisers, who built an entire economy negotiating to buy impressions by the thousands. But now they evolved into a common language for measuring communications.

  

As much as we might want a single metric to replace impressions, it's not realistic. The world has diversified, opening up a range of channels and interaction modes that can't be measured by a single number. With that said, we need a new measurement plan to compare media across channels and disciplines - and we can get there through a balanced combination of reach, engagement and relevance. Read more. 

Shari R. Veil, Ph.D., Jenna Reno, Ph.D., Rebecca Freihaut, and Jordan Oldham, University of Kentucky

In April 2013, Vani Hari, activist and author of the blog Food Babe, petitioned Kraft to remove petroleum-based dyes from their products. A Kraft spokesperson responded and confirmed they were following the FDA guidelines. The following month, Hari posted a hoax video showing a warning label on Kraft Macaroni and Cheese to spur activist groups into hijacking the company's Facebook page.