If you work in PR and you’re 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:

• TechCrunch fights for editorial independence -  Last week, TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington asked the site’s owner AOL to guarantee TechCrunch’s editorial independence or sell the blog back to him. He was subsequently fired from AOL yesterday, according to reports.
• Top PR tips from The Huffington Post UK – Editor-in-chief Carla Buzasi joined Gorkana for a breakfast briefing and gave her top tips for getting your story on the UK’s hottest new blogging platform. Read what she had to say here and check the video below.

• Smartphone users are checking-out - A survey from the Pew Research Center has found that just 12% of America’s smartphone users are using geosocial services such as FourSquare and Gowalla. However, 28% of Americans use a location-based social media services (which includes checking your location on your mobile’s map)
• 68% of people say no to police cuts following the London riots - two thirds of people think that the presence of officers patrolling the streets make the streets feel safer, according to a survey by OnePoll and PR Week.
• Geekiest marriage proposal ever? - StumbleUpon helps coordinate a marriage proposal.

If you 'Liked' it then you should have put a ring on it

• A PR professional’s guide to SEO - PRmoment.com posted some top tips for SEO from a PR perspective this week. Check them out here.
• Well-known social media personality Trey Pennington died – a sad story that has inspired many testimonials, you can read this one from close friend Denis Campbell here.
• “The most famous shoes never made” - Michael J. Fox helps launch Nike’s Back to the Future trainers in the heart-warming video below. All proceeds will go to help cure Parkinson’s disease.

• Lacoste of living - French fashion label Lacoste tells Norway bomber Anders Behring Breivik to stop wearing its clothes (it is unclear whether or not this also applies to Jersey Shore’s The Situation).
• Online giant Yahoo! struggles  - “We’re at a critical time in Yahoo’s history,” said Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang this week. Read how Yahoo! is struggling to find its way in the brave new online world in this editorial from The New York Times.
• YouTube links take twice as long as Twitter and Facebook  - A Bit.ly study posted on its blog this week shows that hyperlinks have different speeds depending on the platform they are posted on.

This week’s best social media infographic:

And just for fun: The Post-It War