If you work in PR and are interested in the latest thinking on media monitoring, PR planning, media analysis and social media measurement, these are the must read stories from the last week.

This week’s top PR and social media picks:

• Studies from the US and UK on the prospects for the PR industry confirmed what we already knew: us Brits are more pessimistic. More than a third of firms surveyed by the CPRF in the US anticipated higher budgets for 2012, buoyed by increased staff numbers and improved revenues. Across the pond, the PRCA‘S quarterly trends barometer reported that economic optimism among PRs is at an all-time low.
• Facebook, Twitter and MySpace created a browser add-on designed to negate Google’s bias towards its own Google+ network in search results.
• Chris Brogan provided tips for companies hoping to get the edge in creating great video content…
• …while Problogger revealed the secrets of an irresistible blog intro.
• Origami fans had their craft redefined by this week’s Twitter meme courtesy of Ross Kemp.

• The Contempt of Court Act got another kicking this week as a naughty Guardian journalist was caught tweeting at the Harry Redknapp tax evasion trial.
• However, the alliance of the Guardian and Twitter rescued a couple from their gym contract after the chain refused to waive its fees despite some convincing mitigating circumstances. The Media Blog pointed out that the story remained live on the Guardian site for days, yet criticism generated over just a few hours on Twitter was enough to get the company scrabbling for a refund letter.
• The Holmes Report published a run-down of the top 10 PR crises of 2011.
• The Daily Mail unseated the New York Times to become the newspaper website with the greatest online reach in the world.
• Facebook discussed how journalists are using its Subscribe function. According to the network, humorous posts gain 5x more shares than average.
• The best time to tweet is after lunch, according to the Wall Blog.
• Google is watching you: with Facebook preparing for the rollout of its privacy-busting Timeline profile, Google has upped its game and will combine data from search and surfing habits across its network from 1st March to create integrated behavioural profiles of users.
• Mashable detailed ways to avoid the latest wave of Facebook changes.

Infographic of the week: The Evolution of Facebook Features