Those of you who read this blog and listen to my podcast, Talking Communications with Farrell Kramer, are aware of the growing importance of the press release.

Highlighting the press release's rise in stature, today PRWeb -- in one of its own press releases, of course -- announced it is being acquired by Vocus, a provider of PR software, for $28 million in cash and Vocus stock.

"The internet has led to a dramatic increase in the number and types of media outlets and other website destinations from which consumers and journalists get their news," said Rick Rudman, President and CEO of Vocus, Inc. "PRWeb has fully developed the technologies, features and pricing model to enable organizations of all sizes to maximize their online visibility and to exploit the potential of this new communication channel."

PRWeb is a true leader in bringing the press release into the Web 2.0 world, providing features like tagging, multimedia file attachments, RSS feeds and trackbacks to what had been a fairly old-school vehicle for many years.

The aquisition by Vocus, if nothing else, makes clear that PRWeb has been on the right track ... and so have those communicators utilizing the press release in some of these new ways.