PRWeb is getting faster.

As part of a new set of features to be released starting today and rolled out over the next two weeks, the online press release distributor is now offering priority distribution -- which lets customers upload and distribute their press releases in just 1 hour.

While pricing wasn't finalized when PRWeb briefed me last week, they said it would be about $100 a release and could be used with any distribution. This is an important development, as the next-day and 2-day distributions available previously were simply insufficient when working with clients making last-minute changes.

Other new features include the ability to:

• Specify the time of day a release will be distributed
• Include a release in media digests emailed to reporters every morning (based both on speciality and region)

How much should you spend on a press release? A lot less than you might think.

According to the 2007 Journalist Survey on Media Relations Practices I posted on yesterday, reporters in overwhelming numbers prefer to get their news from us via email -- not the big newswires.

That's right.

• Nearly 8 out of 10 (77.9%) surveyed said they prefer to receive their news "via press releases sent to me by email."
• Another 4.5% chose "official alerts sent to me from a corporate online newsroom" ... which, of course, come via email.
• And, hold your breath, just 7.6% wanted their news "via commercial newswires (such as PR Newswire or BusinessWire).

PRWeb is at it again.

The company, a pioneer in the online press release, today announced the ability to embed video into releases.

To do this, PRWeb customers first need to upload their video clips to online video services including YouTube and Google Video. Then, those clips can be embedded directly into their press releases.

PRWeb said this new feature, called Feature Video, is available in its Media Visibility distribution, which costs $360 per release.

Technorati Tags: prweb, press release, video, web 2.0

PRWeb, the online press release distributor, continues to press into the social media space. Yesterday, it announced the availability of a "Blog This" link in its press releases.

This is a nice addition. Basically, if you are reading a PRWeb release, you can click the link and directly post to your blog. (You need to set up an account with PRWeb, as it holds your blog login info.)

Personally, I've always been a big fan of PRWeb. Its releases do very well with search engines and provide a nice, clean presentation with all the bells and whistles you could want. And it is a very, very good value for the dollar.

I've just posted Episode 20 of our talking communications with farrell kramer podcast.

My guest is PR practitioner Linda VandeVrede, who has just come out with the second edition of her book, Press Releases Are Not a PR Strategy.

VandeVrede discusses some misconceptions about what PR is and how it should be handled as well as pointing out the right way to bring PR into an organization. It is an interesting interview, particularly for anyone considering the adoption of a PR strategy.

Welcome to the new PR.

In the old, pre-Web 2.0 world, conventional wisdom held that it was necessary "to have significant news before you were allowed to write a press release." No more. The new rule, according to David Meerman Scott: "Don't just send press releases when `big news' is happening; find good reasons to send them all the time."

These new rules come from David's e-book, "The New Rules of PR," which has just been updated with a second edition.

David is the guest in the latest episode of my Talking Communications with Farrell Kramer podcast. In our interview, David talks about his new rules in the context of using press releases today -- with detailed examples such as how to use releases to drive individuals into the sales process -- as well as working with the blogosphere.

Press releases have made great strides over past few years. The search engine optimized (SEO) release, for example, has become quite a big deal.

Now, Talking Communications with Farrell Kramer takes a look at the social media press release.

My guest in Episode 15 -- The Social Media Release is Todd Defren, Principal at SHIFT Communications and a pioneer in the social media press release.

Press releases sit at the center of many PR campaigns, and with recent advances in Internet technology the release itself is in the midst of substantial change.

As we're written before, the value of the press release has been made particularly clear this year with the acquisition of a number of important players, including PRWeb, U.S. Newswire and even Warren Buffett's purchase of Business Wire.

The Talking Communications with Farrell Kramer podcast takes on this issue in Episode 13 -- Press Release Mergermania.

The newswire business seems the hot place to be.

PR Newswire has just announced the acquisition of U.S. Newswire, which focuses on press release distribution in the government and public interest sectors. The price: $19 million in cash and up to an additional $4 million based on future performance.

This comes just two months after PRWeb, the online press release distributor, said it was being acquired by PR software producer Vocus for $28 million in cash and stock. And it follows less than a week after PRWeb announced a distribution partnership with Business Wire, perhaps PR Newswire's No. 1 competitor.

The online press release just took a big step forward.

Business Wire and PRWeb, a unit of Vocus, announced today that they have created a partnership to combine Business Wire's broadly distributed press releases with PRWeb's search engine optimized, online release offerings. The partners described the new effort in a release of their own: