the next vs. the following
I know that the next week is usually used to refer to either the week after any reference time (to mean the same as 'the following week') or the seven days from now (the period of seven days starting at the moment of speaking). But I was wondering if the following week could mean the week starting today as well as the week immediately following whatever week has just been referred to. I haven't been able to get any help elsewhere.
I would use the coming week as another way of expressing the seven days from now, and the following week only for the week after that [date].