The Friday Wrap (which is what you're reading) is a curated rundown of news, reports and posts from the past week that, while they didn't go viral or attract much attention, are still interesting and useful for communications professionals. I select Wrap items from my link blog, which you're welcome to follow.

News

Top PR firms won't represent climate deniers -- An ethical debate has been carried on for years about the wisdom of PR agencies representing tobacco companies. That discussion is now shifting to climate deniers as several of the top 25 PR agencies told The Guardian newspaper they will not work for any entity that rejects the reality of climate change, nor will they undertake campaigns designed to promote blocking carbon pollution regulations. Among these agencies, WPP, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, Weber Shandwick, Text 100 and Finn Partners. The shift could be problematic for some agencies. Edelman, for example, touts programs for reducing its own carbon footprint, but it represents the American Petroleum Institute, which lobbies heavily against carbon emission regulations. Read more

McDonald's faces backlash over Instagram ads -- The Instagram ads were supposed to appeal to smartphone-slinging Millennials, getting to try out a new burger. Instead, the ads produced negative comments, mostly complaining about seeing ads from a brand they weren't following. As Instagram prepares to roll out its advertising platform to everybody, this situation should be worth a look -- what kind of images would appeal to users and what will just tick them off. Read more

Wikipedia produces transparency report -- Wikipedia has released a report detailing how often it has received government requests for user information, revealing that it is hardly ever asked and even more infrequently complies with requests: It has received a mere 13 requests and has granted none. Read more

MIT introduces a new approach to news -- Content marketers take note: MIT Media Lab is preparing to roll out a new news site that introduces a new way to convey news, rich with context instead of relying on hyperlinks readers need to follow in order to get more information. Articles are presented in text blocks arranged in a cross. The story itself is in the vertical bar, with horizontal bars serving as the context stream, "crashing itself into the story and providing background to various points." The approach follows a trend: Vox uses a similar system of explainer "card stacks" and even Google condenses searches into "bite-sized card explainers, summarizing Wikipedia while saving you a click." Read more

RIP Justin.TV -- In the early days of user-generated content, Justin.TV provided a platform for live video feeds. Several popular figures got started on the platform, which was acquired by Twitch, a site that streams videogame play. Now, with Twitch a rumored takeover target by Google, the company has shut down Justin.TV. Read more

Users can collaborate and message on Pinterest pins -- Pinterest has introduced messaging, allowing users to send other members pins with messages. The recipient can add her own messages, launching a conversation, or respond with a message on a new pin of her own. Marketers can use this tool to initiate collaboration with customers. Read more

Hotel backs off policy of fining guests for bad reviews -- When the New York Post reported that the Union Street Guest House charged guests $500 for a bad review -- a policy posted to its website -- the public responded with more than 3,000 bad reviews that Yelp had to remove as inappropriate. The hotel's owner said the policy was a joke that was never intended to provoke a negative response, nor were staff supposed to act on it. Read more

Trends

C-Suite still isn't warming up to social media -- Only half of boardrooms recognize the value of social media, according to a poll of senior marketers. The reasons include an inability to measure the ROI from social media activities, along with "a fear of getting it wrong" in regulated industries. The ways to get them on board: have them start using it, simulate a crisis to enlighten the C-suite about the power of social media, and identify the balance of your website traffic sources to "demonstrate where it is over-reliant and hence vulnerable." Read more

GQ's most influential readers will promote your brand (for $100,000) --They're well known and highly regarded in their fields: a style blogger with 100,000-plus Instagram followers, the guy behind the popular I Wear Cool Socks Tumblr site, and Men Style Pro's founder and creative director. And they'll pitch your brand through their own social channels, through content they create for GQ, and in ads. And it's all yours for $100,000. GQ57 -- 57 elite readers -- won't get compensated by GQ, but their own exposure will get a boost and perhaps some trips. Read more

Radisson Blu rewards customers for sharing travel tips -- Following a growing trend in the hotel industry, the Radisson Blu hotel has introduced "Social Eyes," which will pick the best weekly tip for travel to one of the hotel's locations. The winning tips will be posted to the new hotel blog, a travel-focused content portal. The winners will get a free night's stay at the hotel. Read more

Will people "flock to unlock?" -- An enhanced Twitter advertising feature is getting a workout from athletic shoe company Puma. Athletes will tweet promotional content, promising Puma will unlock special content only if a goal for retweets is reached. The offer will be made on Twitter cards that accompany the tweets. A graph will plot how close to the goal users are. The reward: an early reveal of a new TV spot. Read more

Research

Earned, social media inextricably linked in newsrooms -- Over half of journalists participating in an Ogilvy PR survey saw a "strong connection" between earned media coverage and social media amplification, while over 90% believe the impact of a story is connected to the social media reaction it produces. "The blending of social and mainstream media is paving the way for a new paradigm of news generation -- crating exciting opportunities for the most savvy and forward-thinking of brands," according to Ogilvy Media Influence managing director Jennifer Risi. Read more

Research finds internal influencers have twice the reach of senior leaders -- Not many internal communications departments incorporate employee influence networks into their strategies, yet a recent study reinforces what researchers have known for years: internal influencers are more effective at spreading messages than top leaders. Read more

Can separation of advertising and editorial co-exist with native ads? -- With the announcement that The New York Times will make it harder for readers to distinguish a native ad from editorial content, sponsored content is moving in the wrong direction. While its continued growth is inevitable, since it benefits both publishers and brands, it could erode trust in journalism if the historic church-state separation falls by the wayside. Read more

This week on FIR

• On FIR #767, Neville and I discuss what Medium's sponsorship deal with BMW suggest for the online advertising market, what's coming next in social media measurement, how the Telegraph is increasing readership by publishing less and forgetting about Twitter, and why brands need to engage with customers in order to get the most out of their social presence. We also talk about OKCupid's online social experiment, Twitter's test of easier-to-use hashtags, the Council of Public Relations Firms' new social/digital working grop, and Armenia's plea for citizens to each write a Wikipedia article. Listen
  
  
• Jen Phillips joins host Chip Griffin for the 7th episode of the Media Bullseye Roundtable of the year. They talk about John Oliver's attack on native advertising, PR agency plans to reject work from climate change deniers, and the importance of setting expectations early in the agency-client relationship. Listen
  
  
• On Inside PR #381, Gini, Joe, an Martin talk about the hotel that said it would fine guests for bad reviews and an online privacy study from Craig Newmark. Listen
  
  
• Mark your calendars! FIR Live returns with a Google+ Hangout on Air dealing with language translation in the digital world. We have four great panelists joining us at 11 a.m. Eastern on Thursday, August 14. Share your questions on the FIR Community on Google+. Read more

• I have just signed a contract for social media strategic planning for a California hospital.
• In early August, I'm presenting a remote session to communicators and leaders of a university system on dealing with committed crusaders antagonizing organizations.
• I return to Sao Paulo, Brazil, in August for three days of teaching at the national communications association, ABERJE.
• I'm making a presentation on social media at the International Monetary Fund (one of my retainer clients) in Washington, D.C. in early September.
• In October, I'll head to Warsaw, Poland to speak at an internal communication conference.
• I'll also be conducting two workshops in October for Intrateam, the Denmark-based intranet organization.
• In October, I'll speak at the Global Intranet Forum in New York.
• I'll conduct two workshops for the International School of Communications in London during October.
• I'll present a pre-conference workshop on social visual communications at a Ragan conference at SAS headquarters in early November.

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