PR and Social InkLings for Week of July 11

By Whitney Clifford

Women Can Do Everything, Google+ Takes on Facebook, News Corp. and the Right Way to Handle a PR Crisis, and Lady Gaga Falls in the Ranks

There seems to be a sort of forced compromise for women in their careers: either people like you OR you’re successful. You’re either a great mom OR a killer boss. You don’t get both. I love that I work for a women-owned business and I appreciated it when Beth passed along a recently published New Yorker article that profiles Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, her humble beginnings, struggles and the self-confidence that ultimately helped her grow Facebook into not only a social media phenomenon, but a profitable one. This piece also delves deeply into Google and Facebook’s relationship: their rivalry and growth plans. Read on and I hope you’re inspired by Sheryl’s simple, but powerful message: “Don’t worry so much about balance. Work hard, stick with what you like, and don’t let go.”

Speaking of the Google/Facebook rivalry, unless you have been living under a rock you know that we have recently been introduced to a new social networking site: Google+. Google+ looks eerily similar to Facebook, but promises to improve sharing, as it connects your sites—Picasa, YouTube, etc.—and allows you to group your friends into “circles” to share targeted content. If you’ve jumped on the Google+ bandwagon and now have no idea how to best use the site, check out Chris Brogan’s tips and videos here. Still don’t know if Google+ is right for you? Let InkHouse’s Samantha McGarry help you decide.

This post wouldn’t be a proper “news round-up” if I failed to mention the News Corp. story and all the details that have unfolded over this past week. We have been bombarded with updates on the scandal in the UK and the immoral and dishonest ways (illegal hacking and police bribes, to name a few) that some of its tabloids collected information from thousands, including victims of crimes, celebrities and the royal family, among others. Rupert Murdoch’s media empire has attempted to contain the damage, closing the British tabloid News of the World, but the influential company continues to take hits.

One such hit came earlier this week when a group of News Corp. shareholders filed an amended complaint, accusing News Corp. of a “complete failure of oversight.” This new claim joins an earlier complaint filed in March that involved Murdoch’s daughter’s television production company. The Wall Street Journal explains more here.

Another story that has branched off from this scandal was covered by NPR. While investigating News Corp., Reuters columnist David Cay Johnston made a rather large mistake when he reported that the news giant had received billions of dollars in tax refunds in recent years, when in fact, it had actually paid billions in federal taxes. Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, copped to his mistake and posted a retraction piece—a correction that, according to Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep, is “as prominent as the original mistake.”  This is a great example of how to handle a PR crisis the right way. Johnston made an honest mistake, owned it immediately, and proactively worked to correct it.

It’s official: Rihanna has now surpassed Lady Gaga as the most popular woman on Facebook! According to a recent Mashable post, by using her Facebook wall as a platform to host photos and interactive quizzes, promote a new fragrance, merchandise and upcoming concerts, Rihanna (and her ghostwriters) have been able to entice more than 40,564,950 fans and counting, roughly 20,000 more than Lady Gaga. And she didn’t even have to wear something like this. It’s OK, Gaga, take comfort in the fact that you are still #1 in Twitter’s eyes…just watch out for Bieber.