Around the Web is your weekly source for curated news, research, reports and posts that may have slipped by unnoticed, but that could prove useful to communicators and marketers. (It's also somewhat abbreviated this week, since my travel schedule has taken away some of the time I would normally spend with the bulletin.) I collect items that I consider including in the Wrap (as well as my podcast) at my link blog, Links From Shel, which you're welcome to follow.

News

Here's why your content shared on Facebook may get more reads -- You're scrolling through your news feed and see an article that's interesting, but you just don't have the time to read it now. If you worry that your content just isn't getting the exposure it should even when it shows up in the news feed, there's good news. Facebook is experimenting with a "Save" button that will create a list of bookmarked content on your profile. Read more.

NPR tries voice recognition-enabled ads -- National Public Radio is rolling out mobile ads that will appear on its smartphone app. After hearing the ad, which runs at the end of a report, listeners can simply say things like "download now" or "learn more" to produce an immediate action. The potential for voice response in mobile apps is huge and extends well beyond advertising. Read more.

Trends

Advocacy groups embrace brand journalism -- Perhaps your company hasn't started producing brand journalism, but now may be the time as advocacy groups are embracing the practice. Companies from Coca-Cola to Cisco Systems are employing journalists to report on the company just as they would if they were writing for a media outlet, injecting journalism-quality material into the content mix. Organizations like Human Rights Watch, the American Civil Liberties Union and The Cato Institute are increasingly producing their own journalism -- and some of it could be aimed at your company or industry. Read more.

GE goes big with native advertising -- General Electric has been one of the most prominent brands to become a serious content creator, so it's no surprise to find them diving into native advertising, embracing in-stream advertising as long as four years ago on Buzzfeed and Tumblr. According to Global Brand Marketing Executive Director Linda Boff, native advertising has become a primary means of orienting people to just who GE is. "Great content can come from a lot of different places, but funnily enough, it seems to be traditional media can get a little more attention when it comes to native," she said in a Digiday interview.

Brands start experimenting with Twitter photo collages -- Now that you can share up to four photos in a single tweet without using up those precious 140 characters, brands are starting to try out the feature. Among those aggregating multiple images in a tweet are General Electric, Meox Mix and sparkling-juice brand Izze. Read more.

Research

Digital omnivores crave content -- A digital omnivore owns three devices -- a computer, a tablet and a smartphone -- and research from Deloitte reveals that their numbers have expanded to 37% of the U.S. population, and their hunger for content is also on the rise. Read more.

30% of Americans use Facebook to get news -- Of the 64% of Americans who use Facebook, almost half use it to stay current with news. Only 8% look for news on Twitter, according to a new report from Pew Research. Read more.

This week on FIR

• Neville was unavailable this week, so I brought on board a guest co-host, brand marketer Olivier Blanchard. We talked about Google Glass's deal to design fashionable wearables under the Ray-Ban and Oakley brands, USC Annenberg Journalism School's plans to offer a Google Glass class, Facebook's acquisition of Oculus, and the possibility that Twitter will do away with the hash tag and @ symbols. Our longer discussions revolved around sentiment analysis and the demise of Facebook organic reach for brands. We also had reports from Michael Netzley about the growing rift between Malaysia and China over the missing airline incident, and Dan York reports on Turkey's banning of Twitter and YouTube. Listen
• On episode 21 of AMP UP Your Social Media, Glenn Gaudet talks with Kurt Shaver, founder of The Sales Foundry, about social selling. Listen
• On episode 16 of Thought Leadership, Mitchell and Michael chat with Willis Turner, CEO of SMEI about social selling. Listen
• On Linked Conversations, Chuck Hester dives into changes LinkedIn is making to its company pages. Listen
• A jam-packed episode of FIR B2B features Paul and Allan discussing marketers struggling with how to reinvent themselves. They also talk with Marissa Pick, senior social media marketing manager at Euromoney Institutional Investor. Listen
• In the first of two FIR interviews posted this week, Neville chats with Therese Manus, managing director of the Norwegian Communications Association, and Stine Jarmund, advisor for training programs and conferences for the Norwegian Communication Association. Listen
• In the second interview, I spoke with Ekaterina Walter and Jessica Gioglio about their new book, The Power of Visual Storytelling. Listen

• I'm conducting a webinar in April for PeopleFluent. Details to come.
• Next week, I'm off to Grand Rapids, Michigan to lead a digital planning session for Spectrum Health.
• I'll be speaking multiple times at IABC's World Conference in Toronto, June 8-11.
• On June 25, I'll be in Columbus, Ohio presenting a workshop for communicators from Owens Corning.
• I return to Sao Paulo, Brazil, in August for three days of teaching at the national communications association, ABERJE.
• In October, I'll head to Warsaw, Poland to speak at an internal communication conference.

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