A weekly roundup of media news and talking points, sans effort

Thought for the Week

“As a government official for many years I assumed that my cellphone and email account were susceptible to spying.??? Former US ambassador to Nato Kurt Volker, reacting to news that German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone was tapped by the NSA.
 

Weekly High

November hits next week, along with Movember. A high profile charity campaign, we’ve all heard about the good cause in question, but as anyone in the not for profit sector will tell you, keeping such initiatives alive on an annual basis can be challenging. Hats off to the Movember team this time round then, what with their new Mr. Men collaboration.

Weekly Low

It’s never good when a company lies in public, and it’s even worse when those untruths are told in the hope of discrediting a rival. Take Samsung, for example. The company, one of the world’s leading tech brands, has been fined $340,000 by the Taiwanese Fair Trade Commission for posting false negative reviews about competitor HTC’s handsets online. #fail.

Things that may happen in the next week

Twitter will begin preparing to sell 70million shares as it floats on the stock market on 6th November, with the company’s self-valuation now at $11billion. Google will continue testing banner ads on its homepage in the U.S., going back on a promise made in 2005 to never have banner ads on the home or results page. Facebook will begin trialling warning messages for violent, sexual and explicit content posted on the network.
 

Just in case you missed it…

Smoking Gun PR is partnering up with The Blog Awards 2014 (#UKba14), Britain’s first ever awards ceremony dedicated to blogs in all sectors. For full details of our involvement click here.
 
If there is a success story, blunder, or news event you’d like to see included email helloATsmokinggun.co.uk or tweet using #blaggersblog. Happy Friday!