One of the most interesting trend stories to pop up so far this month concerned Nike‘s decision to take its social media efforts away from third-party agencies and do everything in-house.

Some industry observers see this move as a sign of larger trends. Given the fact that we recently wondered whether social media responsibilities would fall to PR or marketing departments in the future, we think the topic is extremely relevant to all communications professionals.

Nike claims that keeping all social operations in-house will help its team “gain a deeper understanding” of its fans in the interest of boosting brand loyalty. It started the transition in October by hiring Musa Tariq, former social media marketing director for Burberry, to “kick start” its social strategy.

The sneaker king isn’t the only company to take a greater degree of responsibility for its own social media efforts in recent months: Competitor Reebok conducted an internal audit of all its social channels after rejecting contract offers from agencies, and Digiday reports that other big names like Ford and Campbell’s Soup have done the same.

This isn’t to say that Nike will sever ties with all third-party firms.

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Today in Always Look on the Bright Side news (thanks to Eric Idle): Despite a US economy that can’t seem to find its way out of the rabbit hole, the PR business is doing quite well, if we do say so ourselves.

While we can’t quite back up Everything PR’s prediction that the industry “may well be the barometer of hope many people are looking for,” revenues are clearly rising in 2012 with no slowdown in sight.

What changed? Well, after five years of declining recession-era budgets, businesses and public figures seem to have rediscovered their favorite hobby: spending lots of money to make themselves look good! In case you haven’t heard, corporate profits have emerged from the downturn in excellent health despite the fact that millions of Americans continue to struggle. It’s really common sense: An era producing record-low levels of trust in government, media and big business entities makes PR services more valuable than ever.

Now that you’ve got money to burn, you can pay for the full report here.

Ketchum Pleon announced today that its merger in Germany is officially complete with the integration of businesses in Munich. The agency also has operations in other German cities including Berlin, Bonn, and Frankfurt.

The firm has also announced staff changes. Simone Hoch has been named MD of the new Munich office. Previously, she was a partner and head of Pleon’s Munich office. Sabine Stadel-Strauch has been promoted to head of European client service, a newly-created role. She was previously a partner and CEO of Ketchum’s Munich office. And Petra Sammer, formerly the managing and creative director for Ketchum Germany, has been promoted to chief creative officer of Ketchum Pleon Germany.

Merger plans were announced last summer. Ketchum Pleon will work alongside Omnicom‘s Emanate brand.

According to Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) numbers quoted in a Ragan.com story titled “Women Dominate the PR Industry: Why?,” nearly 85 percent of PR practitioners are women. And 73 percent of PRSA’s membership, which totals 21,000, are women.

Brenda Wrigley, chair of the PR department at Syracuse University, thinks the number of women in the industry is commensurate with the skills that women acquire during their college studies. Many women major in areas of the humanities and skills like writing, presentation, and event planning are right up their alley.

Still, there are inequalities. Women earn less than men, the story says, and 80 percent of top management is male. While the story notes that women are starting to make inroads into the top ranks, it also says that some are making a concerted effort to recruit men.

Why do you think women gravitate to PR in such overwhelming numbers?