PRWeek has found someone to replace San Francisco bureau chief Aarti Shah, who left the publication in April to join March Communications.

Jason Shuffler had been named West Coast correspondent and joins from the San Francisco Business Times, where he covered small business and entrepreneurs. View his story archive here.

It’s been an entire year since Aarti Shah penned the PRWeek feature story that looked into “where PR stands in the turf war over digital,” and yet the debate over who “owns” social media within the marketing disciplines is still a hot one.

The latest update from the USC Annenberg’s Public Relations Generally Accepted Practices (GAP) reveals that PR is winning the battle. From the study:

When asked to define, in percentile terms, how much budgetary control PR/Communications exerted over digital/social media in their organizations, 25.4 percent of corporate participants said that PR/Communication has 81 to 100 percent of budgetary control. Only half as many – 12.6 percent – said that Marketing had that
much control.

In addition, 25.1 percent of respondents said marketing has no budgetary control over social media, while just 10.7 percent said that of PR/Communication. It should be noted, however, that the USC study surveyed 382 “communication decision makers” who not surprisingly more likely reside in the communications department of a corporation.

This sample shouldn’t skew the results too much, said Jerry Swerling, director of USC’s Strategic Communication and PR Center.

“While we need to bear in mind that these are the self-reported opinions of PR/Communication professionals, the disparities can’t all be chalked up to professional bravura,” he said. Let the debate continue.

RELATED: USC’s PR Industry Study: Recession Was Not Crushing, Expect Modest Increase for 2010

First on PRNewser: Veteran PRWeek Bay Area Bureau Chief Aarti Shah is leaving the publication to join the agency world. Shah confirmed the news to PRNewser this week. She covered technology, consumer issues, and marketing communications for PRWeek.

“I’ll be joining March Communications in April to do tech PR,” Shah told PRNewser via email. March is a five-year-old, Boston-based tech PR agency.

In terms of her years of journalism experience, Shah said, “I think knowing how to create content, identify strong story angles, ask good questions, and build relationships are key skills that will transfer to PR.”

Shah was one of PRWeek‘s star reporters for quite some time, routinely breaking stories on big account wins and other news in the Bay Area/tech PR industry.

We hear PRWeek is looking for a replacement.

Yahoo has several PR RFPs in the works; two of which, for its consumer PR and measurement and metrics, have already been issued. The other, for B2B and metrics and measurement will be issued in “the next few days,” said May Petry, vice president, corporate communications, Yahoo. PRWeek‘s Aarti Shah first reported the news of the PR review.

PRNewser has learned exclusively that Biz360, Dow Jones, Vocus, Cision and Media Proof are pitching Yahoo for the measurement and metrics business next week. The company will reach a decision by December 1st with a January 1st 2010 implementation of a solution to extend the work being done by Yahoo’s internal analyst team. The RFP is budgeted in the low six-figures.

The consumer PR RFP is also budgeted for a low six-figure monthly retainer, Petry confirmed. Golin Harris is the incumbent, has been asked by Yahoo to participate in the RFP, and has accepted. The B2B incumbent Peppercom will not defend after the agency and Yahoo reached a “mutual decision” to part ways. The B2B decision time line is the same as that for measurement and metrics. Petry said she also expects the consumer RFP to be awarded by end of year.

Razorfish has selected Concept Communications as its agency of record, PRWeek‘s Aarti Shah reports.

The AOR news – announced yesterday – comes before today’s announcement that Publicis has finalized its acquisition of the agency from Microsoft. Publicis paid $531 million, including $263 million in stock, and $286 million in cash. The agency is one of the largest digital agencies in the world, counting 2,000 employees across 19 offices worldwide.

Razorfish would not comment on who Concept beat out for the work, however a company statement sent to PRNewser said that the process included, “an in-depth look at the capabilities of several firms.” The account is a five figure monthly retainer. Also – disclosure – this PRNewser was part of the Razorfish pitch team at his last agency, Horn Group.

Yahoo’s former communications head, Brad Williams, will join Verisign, PRWeek‘s Aarti Shah reports. Williams was laid off from Yahoo this past April, after running PR for a few months after then Yahoo PR head Jill Nash left in February of 2009.

Prior to Yahoo, Williams worked at eBay. Current Yahoo CMO Elisa Steele named Eric Brown SVP of Global Communications this past June. The two had previously worked together at NetApp. For those keeping score at home, that’s three different PR heads for Yahoo in the last year.

Century 21 Real Estate is reviewing all of its marketing partners, reports PRWeek‘s Aarti Shah. Reached for comment, Century 21′s current PR firm, Burson-Marsteller, declined to comment to PRNewser if they will be participating in the review.

PRNewser reached out to Century 21 media contact Matt Gentile for comment but have not heard back as of the time of this post.

PRWeek SF Bureau Chief Aarti Shah recently asked on Facebook, “Are we trending away from PR agency consolidation to instead using a network of ‘best in class’ agencies?”

Perhaps Shah was referencing the recent “network” approach utilized by major brands like Wal-Mart and Samsung, at the same time as well publicized troubles at Enfatico, the massive single agency built to handle all marketing, PR and advertising for Dell. Brand marketers – we’re curious to hear your take.

Fenton Communications was selected by The Wikimedia Foundation for a project to “build the credibility of its popular Wikipedia site and help boost the organization’s fund-raising efforts,” according to PRWeek‘s Aarti Shah. The project has a budget of $250,000.

Fenton Communications founder David Fenton was named “One of the 100 most influential P.R. people of the 20th Century” by PRWeek. The firm is known for its work in “public interest communications.”

Edelman has laid off at least four senior executives, including Bill Keegan, EVP & director of US crisis and issues management. “This was not financially driven…but in this environment, we have been doing an ongoing analysis of our staffing needs,” said Matthew Harrington, president/CEO of Edelman US to PRWeek‘s Aarti Shah, who first confirmed the news.