Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is in the news again, not for enraging subscribers over a price increase or for presiding over a steep decline in share price, but for using social media to tout a company milestone.

Hastings took to his Facebook page in June and praised his staff for achieving a monthly viewing rate in excess of 1 billion hours for the first time in the company’s history.

Continue reading " Assessing the Net of Disclosure: Should the SEC “Like” Facebook? "

For the eight months ended August 31, 2012, PRSA’s net financial results are tracking better than 2011, better than the 2012 budget for the same period and are poised to meet or exceed our annual goal of returning 1% of annual operating expenses back to the reserves.

Continue reading " PRSA on Track to Hit Financial Targets in 2012 "

The FDA’s draft industry guidance for off-label responses to consumers’ health care queries is a start but could benefit from specifics to appropriately advise health care communicators.

Last week, PRSA and the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) filed joint comments with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concerning its proposed social media guidelines. Our central points can be summed up as follows: self-regulation works, and professional communicators and marketers are responsible and ethical practitioners.

The comments are a continuation of PRSA’s recent regulatory affairs work with the Federal Trade Commission and the Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight.

The feedback we provided the FDA reflects the core values of PRSA’s Code of Ethics. We made clear our belief that public relations professionals are keen to protect consumers’ rights through open and honest communications, while advocating for the brands they represent. Those goals do not have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, each can enhance the quality of information provided to the public through proactive and transparent communications practices.

Our comments are the culmination of a long-standing advocacy campaign by PRSA to obtain adequate social media guidelines from the FDA. Through a variety of commentary pieces, we have expressed our perspective that the regulatory framework that currently governs health care and pharmaceutical brands’ online communications with consumers is inadequate. Moreover, the lack of specificity in that framework has led to inaccurate and outdated information swirling around the Internet concerning health care and wellness issues.

It is crucial that the FDA presents viable guidance for how companies can utilize social media to accommodate consumers’ fact-finding needs concerning health care and wellness issues. While a start, the proposed Guidelines lack specificity and relevance that communicators and marketers require to successfully perform their jobs within FDA guidelines. (Related: Dear FDA: Your Social Media Guidance is Requested)

Continue reading " Reviewing the FDA’s Proposed Social Media Guidelines "

As the public relations industry grows in size and stature, it is coming under increasing scrutiny by the public, media and government. But not all scrutiny is bad, especially if it helps broaden the understanding of a profession and advances its role and value.

Twice in the past year there have been investigations into public relations spending by the federal government. The most recent was launched in late February by Senator Claire McCaskill (D–Mo.) and Senator Rob Portman (R–Ohio), who have triggered a wide-ranging investigation of the federal government’s use of public relations and advertising services. At the initial stages of this inquiry the Subcommittee is seeking data for the past five years pertaining to “contracts for the acquisition of public relations, publicity, advertising, communications, or similar services” at 11 separate Federal agencies.  We have our concerns, which we expressed directly with the Senators and through an op-ed published in Roll Call.

It isn’t surprising that government spending on public relations is being scrutinized during times of economic austerity, when politicians of all stripes compete to be the most prudent with taxpayers’ funds. Such scrutiny — if conducted fairly and objectively — may prove valuable for public relations.

Continue reading " Congress Investigates PR: Will It Like What It Sees? "

Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from an op-ed published today in Roll Call. The opinion piece was written by PRSA Chair and CEO Gerard F. Corbett, APR, Fellow PRSA, in response to a Senate investigation into the federal government’s use of public relations and advertising contracts. PRSA also sent letters to Senator Claire McCaskill (D–Mo.) and Senator Rob Portman (R–Ohio), who are leading the investigation, to express its concerns with the investigation.

The Senate’s investigation into government use of public relations services is detrimental to restoring the public’s trust in politicians.

When faced with a tough re-election battle, what is the easiest path to winning over John Q. Public? Proposing proactive solutions that benefit your constituents or taking on an industry you deem to have too much influence?

In the case of Sens. Claire McCaskill (D–Mo.) and Rob Portman (R–Ohio), the answer appears to be the latter. As Roll Call reported Feb. 29, the pair is trying to appease cost-conscious voters with a “wide-ranging investigation” of the federal government’s use of public relations and advertising services.

As chairman of an organization that represents 32,000 public relations professionals in the United States, I share the Senators’ concern that the government prudently spends taxpayer dollars. What I question, however, is their motivation and seeming interest in using the PR industry as a punching bag for America’s dysfunctional political system.

In an era of disastrously low trust in government and politicians, McCaskill and Portman’s investigation may be missing the proverbial boat. It disregards public relations’ central value to government: its ability to engender a more informed society through ethical, transparent and honest communications between the government and its citizens.

Therefore, any investigation into the government’s use of PR firms should not be undertaken unilaterally. It must be met by an equally robust examination of how the government communicates with the public and how it can better use innovative PR firms and professionals to best reach and inform citizens.

Killing the messenger won’t make the government’s public trust and transparency issues disappear.

Continue reading " PRSA to Congress: Don’t Kill the PR Messenger "