Flickr photo courtesy of WetsunThe new year is heating up, as evidenced by a record number of items in today’s Wrap. There’s even more in my link blog, where I collect all the items from the past week I think would be useful or interesting for communication professionals; you’re welcome to follow it.

News

Marriott backs down—Marriott International has withdrawn its petition to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requesting permission to block personal WiFi devices guests bring to its hotels. The company is attributing its change of heart to pressure from the public and the press. “Marriott International listens to its customers, and we will not block guests from using their personal wi-fi devices at any of our managed hotels,” the company said in a statement. It makes you wonder how Marriott will address the security concerns that is used as the basis for its petition in the first place. Read more

U.K. proposal would require access to apps by law enforcement—U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said in a speech that if his Conservative party is re-elected, apps that offer secure communication would be banned. That would include apps like Snapchat and WhatsApp. The statement was seen as a reaction to the terrorist attacks in Paris, but it drew immediate criticism. If apps that enable encrypted messaging become illegal in England, only criminals will have access to secure communication. Read more

Google search now displays brand social profiles—An enhancement to Google Search now displays links to a brand’s social profiles on the information card that appears to the right of the search listings. The links have been appearing on more and more celebrity Knowledge Graph Cards; brands are a recent addition. The links should appear on both desktop and mobile. Read more

Facebook pushes Amber Alerts into News Feeds—In partnership with the National Center for Missing & exploited Children, Facebook will push missing-children alerts—known as Amber Alerts—into the News Feeds of U.S. users. Read more

A cautionary Reddit AMA tale from Nissan—Nissan wanted to show its human side by conducting a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything), but Redditors accused the Japanese auto manufacturer of planting questions for CEO Carlos Ghosn. the session devolved quickly into an attack on the company. Nissan disputed the astroturfing claims, but admitted some of Ghosn’s answers were rushed. Mashable reached out to the new accounts that were posing questions, but has had no responses. Read more

Time Inc. experiments with content curation—A new website from Time Inc. collects do-it-yourself articles from its own magazines as well as dozens of partner websites (like Apartment Therapy). Dubbed The Snug, the site targets Millennials, part of a strategy to publish digital-only sites curating content from multiple sources. Build-it-yourself furniture retailer IKEA will sponsor the site. Read more

Trends

PR beats lobbying—Trade associations seeking to wield influence in Washington, D.C., tend to invest more in advertising and public relations than in lobbying. An investigation by the Center for Public Integrity points, for example, to the American Petroleum Institute, which spent over $7 million lobbying federal officials in 2012 compared to $85.5 million for work by four PR and advertising firms. PR is growing while the number of federally registered lobbyists is shrinking. The major PR players—who are not subject to federal disclosure rules like lobbyists are—include Edelman, GMMB, Goddard Gunster, and Apco Worldwide. Read more

Virtual reality will get a boost in 2015—This year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was loaded with virtual reality headsets. Led by Oculus Rift (purchased by Facebook), and bolstered by Samsung’s introduction of its own Oculus-powered headset as part of its Gear line of wearables, VR headsets will surge into the mainstream this year, and marketers are already considering the various ways they can tap into the trend. Read more

Here come drones for journalism—Drones will be tested for news gathering, which could demonstrate the potential usefulness of the technology for organizational communicators. The New York Timies Company, AP, and NBC are amoang those participating in a group of 10 U.S. media companies that want to convince the government to allow drones into airspace. Virginia Tech University is also part of the group that will conduct the study at a Congressional-approved test area. Read more

Brands pay for Pinterest influence, undercutting ads—A number of brands are commissioning Pinterest influencers (“Pinfluencers) to promote their products, leaving Pinterest itself—which is just introducing its promoted pins advertising product—out in the cold. Some marketers find they can achieve their goals and obtain the reach they’re looking for by recruiting influencers. Without revenue from ads, Pinterest’s growth could be threatened. Read more

Language tech is delivering on its promise—Google is set to announce updates to its smartphone translation app that adds Word Lens technology—the instant translation of any sign—as well as recognition of someone speaking one of the languages the app recognizes and automatically turning it into test. Skype recently demonstrated simultaneous translation between English and Spanish speakers. The implications for communicators, who have struggled with multiple languages as an issue, are huge. Read more

Will Millennials find printing photos novel?—Polaroid is introducing an inkless wireless printer that produces wallet-size images. The pocket-sized printer is called the Zip, which will also let users add a QR code to the 2x3-inch print; when scanned, it will reveal a “secret view” of the photo. The app for the Zip includes filters, frames, and emoji, as well as a business card template. The company is pinning hopes for success on the novel nature of “being able to turn (their smartphone photos) into something tangible.” Read more

Facebook gets better at disseminating news—While Facebook still lags behind Twitter when it comes to getting breaking news out to its users, things are improving. After the social network was embarrassed by a lack of updates around the unrest in Ferguson, Misourri, following the shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, Facebook updated its algorithm. In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris, Twitter was still first to see the news spread, but the killings quickly became a trending topic. “The question is, whether Facebook can ever effectively compete with Twitter in that respect, or whether it should be trying to in the first place.” Read more

Research

Pew analyzes social media in 2014—Facebook remained the most popular social media site in 2014, seeing increased user engagement as its growth has slowed. More than half of all online adults age 65 and older use Facebook, representing 31% of all seniors. Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn experienced considerable increases over 2013 in the share of online adults who use their sites. About half of online young adults use Instagram, and half of all Instagram users use it every day.  Half of all Internet users with college educations use LinkedIn. Eighty-one percent of American adults tap into the Internet, and 52% of them use two or more social media sites, up from 42% in 2013. Read more

Most CEOs have no social media presence—Among the Fortune 500’s CEOs, only 32% have a social media presence on any major network. According to CEO.com’s annual report on the state of social media engagement among business leaders, 73% of those who do have a presence are on LinkedIn, and almost 50% are only on LinkedIn. Of those on Twitter, almost 70% are considered active, having tweeted in the past 100 days. Only 8.3% of CEOs have a Facebook account. Read more

Brands give customers the cold shoulder on Twitter—Brands on Twitter respond to only 22% of tweets from followers, including requests for help or support. Freshdesk used Interbrand’s 2014 list of top brands for its analysis, and found American Express and Samsung were the most response brands on Twitter, replying to almost every tweet directed at them. Less than 37% of the top 100 brands have Twitter accounts dedicated to customer help and support. Read more

Women count on online reviews when buying something new—Eighty-five percent of women consider e-commerce reviews extremely or very important when making a purchase, and more savvy shoppers use online review to ensure quality, gather more insights when making a decision between competing products, and to find the best deal. According to an analysis of data collected from November 2014, Influence Central says 88% of all consumers consider online reviews very influential when purchasing a new product from a brand they don’t now, and even when it comes to brands they are already familiar with, 67% of women still think online reviews influence their decisions. Read more

Who knows you best, Facebook or your friends?—The answer is Facebook, according to researchers from the University of Cambridge and Stanford University. They found that if you have liked enough object, brands, people, music, or books, Facebook is better at predicting your personality than most of the people closest to you (with one notable exception: your spouse). Read more

Social media advertising heats up—With everyone competing for attention in the social media space, trying to do everything through organic reach isn’t a marketer’s best bet. That means it’s no surprise that 70% of marketers plan to increase their spending on social media advertising, including mobile ads on social apps. The same percentage plans to increase spending for organic social media and content marketing, according to a Salesforce survey. Read more

Mobile

Publishers make tentative moves into chat apps—The Wall Street Journal has more than 400,000 followers on Line and 300,000 on WeChat, using both services to alert followers to news. Users can send keywords (like “tech” or “sport”) to get links to related news. Other publishers with chat accounts include the BBC (with 500,000 Line followers) and the Huffington Post UK (with a new WhatsApp channel). “The question is whether the vast reach (of chat apps) can convert into business goals, such as new visitors and, even better, subscriptions. Read more

Mobile devices popular for proxy votes by small investors—More than 1.8 million proxy ballots were cast in 2014 via mobile device—smartphone and tablet—an increase of more than 50% from 2013 and a fivefold increase from 2011. Nonprofessional investors represented about 19 million proxy ballots in 2014. Read more

WhatsApp 50% bigger than global SMS—WhatsApp, the mobile messaging app, is the source of 30 billion messages per day, compared to the global SMS system, which accounts for some 20 billion messages daily. Read more

Tablet sales slowing down—Tablets will be used by more than 1 billion people globally this year, eMarketer says, and in three years that number will grow to 1.43 billion. That projection represents a significant slowdown in tablet use, which will grow 17.1% this year compared to 29.1% in 2014 and 54.1% in 2013. By 2018, the growth rate will drop to just 7.9%. Read more

Goodbye, Google Glass (for now)—Google is putting an end to sales of Google Glass while working on the next generation of the wearable device removed from public scrutiny. The chief executive of Nest Labs—makers of the Nest thermostat, acquired by Google—will oversee the development of the next iteration of the project, which is moving from the Google X research lab. A new version will be released sometime this year that will be cheaper, have longer battery life, better sound, and an improved display. Read more

This was interesting…

MySpace retains a loyal core audience—Think of MySpace and you probably think of that network that Facebook rendered obsolete, just like MySpace did to Friendster. But MySpace still attracts 50 million monthly users and generates some 300 million monthly video views, which puts it in 16th place on comScore’s Video Metrix. The social network has attracted “a vibrant audience of 17 to 25-year-olds, particularly music and entertainment fans.” Read more

Choose Your Own Adventure comes to Twitter—Twitter is demonstrating its flexibility again with the availability of Choose Your Own Adventure stories launched by users. One such story is the first to stay fully contained within Twitter rather than link to other URLs. The article from The Next Web includes the starting point if you want to give it a try. I wonder which brand will be the first to adapt the concept to its marketing efforts. Read more

Slack attracts startup founders—It was designed as a workplace collaboration tool, but thanks to a collection of 27 channels labeled #Startup formed by the Startup Foundation, some 1,500 startup founders have taken to the app to ask questions and engage in debates. Read more