The online press release has taken another big step forward.

PRWeb has launched a new feature allowing customers to embed video in their press releases. In Episode 21 -- Press Release Video, I talk to Jiyan Wei, the PRWeb Product Manager at Vocus, about this service.

Called Feature Video, it allows a user to upload video to one of several online video services, including YouTube, and then embed it in the press release, where it can be played with a mouse click. This is a great way to publicize viral video and a clever approach to making releases more interesting.

It's a pretty common occurrence in the PR agency business. A prospective client calls up and wants help putting out a press release. That's it. Nothing more.

In Episode 20 -- Press Releases Are Not a PR Strategy, author and PR practitioner Linda VandeVrede explains why such requests are common and, importantly, why they miss so much of what PR has to offer. VandeVrede has just come out with the second edition of her book, Press Releases Are Not a PR Strategy, and has a great deal to say on this topic.

VandeVrede, of VandeVrede Public Relations, discusses with us 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.

Enjoy the interview.

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, our guest in Episode 19: The New Rules: "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 also has written an upcoming physical book "The New Rules of Marketing & PR," which is due in June 2007.

We've talked before about the great strides press releases have made over the past few years. It's no surprise, for example, that the search engine optimized (SEO) release has become a big deal.

Today, we look at the social media press release.

The social media release is a specific format of press release designed to take advantage of social media bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us and a variety of other Web. 2.0 advances. It provides all the information an individual would need to fully understand the announcement -- including multimedia files and background materials -- whether for writing stories, posting to blogs or simply consuming the news.

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.

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 growing importance of the press release has been hard to miss by those active in the communications world.

Press releases can now be distributed online with multimedia file attachments, optimized for today's all-important search engines, and made available with tagging, trackbacks and a variety of other Web 2.0 features. The recent $28 million acquisition of online press release distributor PRWeb by Vocus, Inc., a PR software provider, underscores the importance of the modern press release in the overall marketing and communications mix.

In Episode 10 -- Sold! The Modern Press Release, the heads of both companies, PRWeb Founder and President David McInnis and Vocus President and CEO Rick Rudman, talk to us about the transaction, why they did it, and what to expect from them down the road.

Tell any journalist that the press release has become the No. 1 information source ahead of trade journals, news and general magazines, and he or she will likely laugh in your face.

But this is exactly what has happened.

New research from Outsell, a research and advisory firm serving the information industry, shows that because of its availability, brevity, push-delivery options and other factors, the press release is now a force to be reckoned with. Episode 8 -- The Rise of the Press Release examines this startling research finding.

Our guest for the episode is Roger Strouse, Outsell Vice President and Lead Analyst, who explains just how the press release got to this point and explores where it may be heading.

Press releases have taken on a life of their own.

When I began in the news business, press releases were simply meant for the press.  If a reporter decided to write about the release, then it was a success.  If not, that was pretty much the end of it.  No more.  Today, press releases can be accessed online through Web sites and search engines.  They can be e-mailed, put onto RSS feeds and complemented with podcasts.  Just name it. 

The real question for communicators is this: What is the proper audience for the press release today?  Episode 5 -- Whose Press Release Is It Anyway? seeks to answer this question.  Our guest is Mick Jolly (3rd from top), Executive Vice President of PRWeb, an online press release service specializing in direct-to-consumer distribution.