New Pfizer CEO Ian Read discusses some of the reputation issues faced by the pharma industry. Specifically, he points out that the pharma industry has been “slow to adapt” to a more open society, and to increasing demands for more transparent data. There is less on how Read plans to tackle some of these issues, particularly given his industry’s fraught relationship with social media. IBM is the latest company to enter the social media monitoring space, launching a new product that aims to provide better analytics for its campaigns. Along with peers such as SAS and SAP it appears that application vendors are taking the lead in this space, rather than relying on third-party solutions. Does this spell yet more consolidation among social media monitoring providers? Meanwhile, the momentum behind digital analytics as a critical component of modern PR continues to gather pace. ProPublica’s analysis of the rise of PR is certainly interesting, but falls down by defining PR according to its relationship with the media. So while the ratio of reporters to PR people is eye-catching, it would surely make as much sense to throw in data on the rise of influencers outside of the traditional media - from NGOs to analysts to empowered consumers. It is not just PR people who are proving adept at offering alternative interpretations of the ‘truth’.