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When Vocus bought PRWeb, I suggested that the acquisition would take PRWeb "out of contention" in terms of its long-term viability as a competitor to PRNewswire and BusinessWire.

I based this opinion on a) a terrible customer experience with Vocus (I just don't trust a word they say anymore), and, b) the fact that PRWeb, a low-cost service, would find its mission (audience, objectives, etc.) at-odds with Vocus, a premium service.

I'd like to note, as I try to often do, that this was just an opinion, just mine, and, for the record, my opinions have been wrong before.

In any case, below, PRWeb CEO David McInnis responds (and I'll respond to his note below, as well):

Todd, I would be careful to rule us out of the mix. If you look back at our service offering I think you will see that we have been doing the social media thing before it was even being talked about in any other forum online. I would really like to work with you on refining your spec because I feel that it has a few flaws. At any rate, of course Vocus would use PRN for distribution. PRWeb has never claimed to be a platform for disclosure releases. In fact we go out of our way to tell people so. We have been about direct-to-consumer, rss and search engine visibility since we began. To characterize PRWeb as something we never purported to be is unfair. I sense that you are working closely with PRN based off comments by Armon, which is fine, but it should probably be disclosed sometime.

I have read your post and disagree with you assumption that it will take PRN or BW to make the SMPR format work. I think they will be late to the game. I question the ability of the format to work in disclosure type services. It would require a segregation of their platform. I am pressed for time right now but I will try to post more on this to my blog in the near future.

We are already working on the next thing to follow the whole SEO and social media formats. Folks who focus too much attention in these areas are going to miss the next important innovations. If there is one thing that we are good at doing here at PRWeb, it is moving the cheese.

OK, good stuff, David, and thank you for taking the time to check in. I definitely acknowledge that PRWeb made great strides in its space so far, and of all the wire services is the most aggressive and forward-thinking. And, I'd love to speak with you live (our offline game of vmail tag fell off --- let's play again?), just as I have been speaking with execs from both PRN and BusinessWire (and disclosed as much on this blog and at the Social Media News Release Google Group). Lastly, I apologize if I ever mischaracterized PRWeb's proposition or capabilities.

But, I still need convincing re: whether PRN and BW are "necessary" (or not) to push adoption of the Social Media News Release. The FORTUNE 1000 look to these services for news distribution, and they have deep hooks into many legitimate news/content distribution outlets. They may not be necessary, but, their embrace of Social Media will hasten its widespread adoption as a viable marketing method more than anything else.

Again, just one fella's opinion, and I am open to debating it all. (Meanwhile, if it's not too late and fwiw, sincerely: congratulations on the acquisition!)

Tags: david+mcinnis, prweb, hrelease, social+media, press+release, pr+2.0