TAMPA, FL: PR NewsChannel launched a feature that allows people to leave comments on press releases.
The feature, which has been in testing for the last few months, is enabled by the social plug-in service Facebook Comments and commenting service Disqus. For Facebook Comments, a commenter can opt-out if they don't want their remarks to also appear on their Facebook Wall.
“The bottom line is you want to get people talking,” said PR NewsChannel founder Glenn Selig.
Selig said he launched the service to tap into the commenting and opinion culture of social media users, and also to help press releases read more like dynamic Web news articles.
“It's the same situation if a reader were to publish a comment on a Los Angeles Times or San Francisco Chronicle article online,” said Selig. “This is another way to see press releases as an article.”
Selig acknowledges comments on press releases could potentially undermine the controlled message of press releases, but the comments will be edited.
“If it's something the client wouldn't want, we would just delete it,” he said.
The service also can potentially help reporters decipher what is news, and what's not, by seeing what resonates with readers from comments that are posted.
PR NewsChannel was founded in 2007 and is based in Tampa, FL. Selig said most of his clients are small businesses.
