The Friday Wrap is my weekly collection of news stories, posts, studies, and reports designed to help organizational communicators stay current on the trends and technology that affect their jobs. These may be items that flew under the radar while other stories grabbed big headlines. As always, I collect material from which I select Wrap stories (as well as stories to report on the For Immediate Release podcast, along with stuff I just want to remember to read) on my link blog, which you’re welcome to follow.

News

Facebook finally gives in on “real name” policy—Facebook has long required users to set up accounts with their real names, a policy that inspired a defection of transgender performers to competing service Ello a year or so ago. In the face of continued protest, Facebook has announced plans to dilute the policy. Users are still required to use “authentic names” on the site, but Facebook will not allow users to “provide more information about their circumstances” so they can “give additional details or context on their unique situation. The company will also require users who flag others for using fake names provide more context (which it hopes will reduce harassment.) The takeaway: The desire for people who have a legitimate need for employing a non-traditional name is having an impact on Facebook policy. Whether these concessions are enough to halt defections to alternative networks remains to be seen. Read more

Twitter swaps stars for hearts; the mob goes crazy—If a tweet resonated with you for any reason, you could designate it a “favorite” by clicking on a star. No more. Based on the use of hearts in other platforms (including Twitter’s own Periscope), the company determined new users would get the heart idea (like) better than a star (favorite). Whether that’s true of new users remains to be seen, but existing users hate the idea. It was one thing to “favorite” a depressing tweet, but to signal that you “like” it? That’s something else altogether (and too much like Facebook). The takeaway: You can pretty much always expect the social media mob to dislike change. Let’s wait for the dust to settle to see how this shift actually plays out. Read more

Facebook’s standalone news app due next week—Facebook’s notify app, which could be released next week, will include news from media partners including The Washington Post, CBS, and Vogue. The app will produce alerts when one of these partners publishes an article that can be viewed from within the app. The takeaway: More fragmentation and disruption for the news consumption ecosystem, making it more and more challenging to get your brand’s news in front of your audience’s eyeballs. Read more

Google will merge Chrome and Android—Google will merge the Chrome OS—which operates the Chromebook devices that have been increasingly popular—with Android, resulting in a new name for Chromebooks and an operating system that looks and feels more like Android. The merger won’t affect the Chrome web browser. The takeaway: Offering two operating systems just doesn’t make sense and with Android’s increasing popularity and sophistication, porting it to Google’s line of cloud-based laptops just makes sense. It also means all those apps that run on your phone will now run on your laptop, as well. Read more

Facebook by the numbers—Facebook announced quarterly earnings this week and, as part of the announcement, shared some mind-blowing numbers. Monthly active users for the world’s biggest social network are up to 1.55 billion, with 900 million on Facebook’s WhatsApp chat app, 700 million using Facebook Messenger, and 400 million on the Facebook-owned Instagram. More than 1 billion people routinely use Facebook every day, with 925-plus million belonging to groups. More than 45 million small and medium businesses have Facebook Pages, and 8 billion-plus videos are viewed daily on Facebook. The takeaway: Facebook will be the 800-pound gorilla of social media for the foreseeable future. Too many people dismiss Facebook just because they personally don’t like it or succumb to flawed reports about teens abandoning the network. But as Facebook expands into gaming, search, and media consumption, it could wind up with 79% coverage and market leadership of “the overall pie,” according to Edison Research. Read more

Facebook doesn’t think you’re sharing enough—Facebook users haven’t been sharing as much content as they have in the past, spending more time passively consuming what others have shared. Since Facebook relies on sharing to drive its business, the social network is introducing features it hopes will encourage more sharing, such as prompts related to ongoing events appearing at the top of some users’ news feeds in hopes they inspire conversation. In another example, Facebook reminded users it was Memorial Day, that The Walking Dead was premiering, or that a lunar eclipse was about to happen. The takeaway: With 34% of Facebook users updating their status in the third quarter—down from 50% a year earlier—watch for Facebook to employ more tactics to get people to be active rather than passive. Read more

Trends

Canada’s new Prime Minister chats with kids via Google Hangout—Your company may turn its nose up at Google Hangouts as a platform for engaging stakeholders, but in Canada, it has been employed by the highest off in the land. Newly-elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed Canada’s youth in a live Google Hangout that was then published as a YouTube video. Trudeau took questions from students at five schools across Canada about immigration, parks, and a host of other topics. The takeaway: If the Prime Minister of Canada can do it, so can your CEO (or other leaders). Why spend tons of money on digital engagement tools when Hangouts (and other tools) are available free, offer some great features (like automatic production of a YouTube video), and your younger audiences already know how to use them? Read more

US smartphone ownership nearly doubles in four years—Anecdotal observation is now supported with hard data: The sharp increase we’ve all observed in people with smartphones is real, with 68% of Americans now using one, up from 35% in 2011. Ownership among Americans aged 18-29 is at 86%,  according to data from the Pew Research Center. Meanwhile, ebook ownership is declining, falling to 19% from 32% just last year. Computer ownership is also falling—it’s at 78% in 2015, down from 88% in 2010. Tablet ownership has spiked in the 18-29-year-old demographic, with 50% owning one today compared to 5% in 2010. The takeaway: Think mobile first, and among devices, think smartphone first. You won’t go wrong if you think “mobile-only” with an emphasis on smartphones. Read more

The evolution of native advertising—At a meeting of publishers, attendees shared their views on the biggest change in native advertising in the last year. Among the answers: a willingness to experiment with the format, growth in the volume of native ads, and the transition to an “off-platform” world where content appears natively in platforms like Facebook Instant Articles and Apple News. Forbes’ VP of Advertising products and Strategy adds that measuring the effectiveness of native advertising has moved beyond raw numbers of people consuming the content (but who those people are, what are they doing after they’re exposed to the content, and how engaged they are with the content.” The takeaway: Native advertising is still new and changing, meaning there is still opportunity for PR to wrestle some of the content away from advertisers and improve the consumer experience with relevant, useful native ads. Read more

Research

CMOs are skeptical that PR firms can lead brand-building efforts—I’m not sure how statistically value a survey of only 56 Chief Marketing Officers is, but this one—from the PR Council and ANA, found CMOs believe marketing and advertising should lead brand narrative and social strategies, “including content marketing and brand journalism, social media strategy, and online community management.” What’s left for PR, according to CMOs? Crisis and issue management, media relations, and executive positioning. CMOs also think that brand newsrooms are “overhyped,” as are native advertising and social media. The takeaway: CMO perspectives—at least among these 56 CMOs—are mistaken and reflect a failure to recognize PR’s greatest strength: relationship building. The idea of marketing and advertising running brand journalism, content marketing, and social media strategy should send chills of terror down your spine. Read more

Uber-ization of business is keeping CEOs up at night—An IBM survey found senior executives are most frightened of disruption at the hands of a “digital upstart from outside their industry,” just as Uber, the ride-sharing app, has disrupted the taxi industry. More than 5,200 global c-suite managers—including CEOs, CFOs, and CMOs—participated in the survey. The “digital invaders” theme arose among 54% of respondents, up from 43% two years earlier. Industry convergence is another trend executives anticipate. IT security, barely on execs’ radar screens two years ago, is not the top perceived risk. And, for the first time in the 18 iterations of the study, executives agreed that technological changes will have the biggest impact on their businesses in the next 3-5 years. The takeaway: I have said for at least 25 years that communicators needing to justify their existence must focus on what’s keeping the leadership up at night. Figure out how communications can help address fears of disruption at the hands of a digital upstart and your job will be secure. One possible communications activity: Curate and circulate updates on how other companies are preparing themselves to compete against outside-the-industry startups. Read more

What do visitors want from websites?—Limelight Networks wanted to know, so they asked 1,302 Internet users in the U.S., the U.K, Canada, and Singapore. The key to successful engagement, respondents said, is speed. They want pages to load quickly and to experience no buffering of videos, for example. The next most important characteristic of web pages that work for consumers is fresh, updated content, followed by a consistent mobile-to-desktop experience, and finally content that is personalized. The takeaway: Communicators have a clear role to play when it comes to fresh, updated content, but also need to work with designers and coders to ensure load times are quick. Finding ways to personalize the site so it’s relevant to each individual can be a challenge for some businesses, but given the results of this and other surveys, it’s a worthwhile goal to set. Read more

Benchmarking blogging best practices—Orbit Media Studios has analyzed data to determine what makes bloggers successful, inspiring Copyblogger to condense Orbit’s findings into an infographic. Among the best practices: Most blogging is done during work hours, the use of images and audio is on the rise, 75% of bloggers write posts of 1,000 words or less, 64% write for more than one blog, and 85% publish at regular intervals. Successful bloggers edit their own work and routinely check their analytics. The takeaway: If you treat your blog like a hobby, it’ll pay off about as much as most hobbies do. Treat it like a profession, and you’re bound to achieve more success. Read more

Third-party endorsements will drive holiday sales—One of the presentations I deliver is about the vital importance of third-party endorsements—mainly consumer reviews. Now a survey of 21,000 consumers reveals that 67% always or often seek out family or close friends’ recommendations online when researching a purchase. Those reviews have a “purchase-driving impact” for 65% of respondents to the Social Media Link survey. The takeaway: Your ultimate goal in your content marketing, social media, and other efforts is to get other people talking about you. Other people have more credibility that your brand. There’s a reason they call it “earned media,” and it expands far beyond published news media accounts. Consumer reviews are now a critically important form of earned media. Read more

Why do people create and share content?—The Association of National Advertisers and Crowdtap surveyed 500-plus people to gain a better understanding of the motivation to create and share digital content. 60% of respondents said they create content mainly to keep friends, family, and networks up to date. Close behind, with 56%, were those who had a desire to show off their artistic or creative chops. 37% create content as a self-fulfillment activity. The emotions that make someone most likely to share is because the content funny or amusing (55%), because it inspired awe or surprise (35%), or because it outraged or angered them (5%). The factors that lead them to share: the content was informative (73%), entertaining (64%), emotionally moving (45%) reflects personal beliefs or point-of-view (45%), or it’s inspiring (42%). Photos topped the kind of content shared (78%) followed by text-based status updates (64%), news articles and other long-form content (45%), videos (32%), and GIFs (20%). The takeaway: If you want people to share your content, you should know what leads them to share in the first place and strategize your own content to ensure it fits one of the key categories. Of course, within niches (such as B2B), the results might be different, so you may want to undertake your own research with your audience. Read more

Millennials will drive sustainability practices—Until recently, a lot of businesses could get away with minimal sustainability efforts because stakeholder audiences weren’t paying that much attention. Millennials, however, are more knowledgeable about and committed to increased sustainability, and therefore will drive businesses to adopt more significant practices. That’s the finding from Cox Enterprises in its second annual Sustainability Survey. The takeaway: Communicators should be working to find ways to be authentic (rather than risk allegations of greenwashing) in sharing their companies’ sustainability efforts and engaging Millennials in the conversation about future practices. Read more

Virtual and Augmented Reality

Every YouTube video is compatible with Google Cardboard—Every YouTube video—yes, even Charlie Bit My Finger—is now compatible with the VR experience. Sort of. YouTube announced that all videos will support virtual reality via the Google Cardboard app. “Just select the new ‘Cardboard” option from the watch page menu, drop your phone into your viewer, and you’re done,” YouTube announced. Don’t expect every video to suddenly have 360-degree functionality, though. They’re still 2D videos that float on an empty background. But at least you won’t have to remove your headset when switching between regular videos and 360-degree videos. The takeaway: Expanding VR compatibility to this degree should be seen as more evidence that VR is going to be a big deal sooner rather than later. Read more

Zuckerberg sees long-term growth for VR—Facebook raised some eyebrows when it paid some $2 billion for Virtual Reality startup Oculus, but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says it, along with Augmented Reality, “could be the next big computing platform.” Zuck doesn’t see the potential for big money until there are “millions of units out in the market” and he doesn’t anticipate people investing much in VR in 2016. Instead, he sees VR’s growth as a Facebook focus for the long haul. The takeaway: Analysts are wondering if Oculus might be Facebook’s next growth engine. Zuckerberg sees its potential for connecting people around the world. Watch for the uses of VR to expand as more and more people acquire headsets. Read more

This week’s wrap image, of “Walnut Studiolo’s Bullwhip Braided Leather Bar Wraps,” courtesy of Geoffrey Franklin’s Flickr account.