The Web is the great information dissemination tool of our time. Use it.

Even better than sending a press release via e-mail is to send a URL with the Web-based location of that release.

One of my pet peeves regarding Web-based releases is that they often omit the name, phone number and e-mail address of a contact person. I guess some companies and public relations professionals worry that a member of the general public (gasp!) might try to get in touch with the person named in the release. But that's a small price to pay for the convenience of easy access by the press.

Oh, and while we're on the subject - please put street prices in your press releases, too. And update them when they change.

Finally, if you work for a large P.R. organization, encourage your honchos and jefes to post an online e-mail & phone directory of the group - complete with current assignments. It's really nice to be able to go to a Web site for a PR firm and find the exact person who can answer my question. If you're worried about the general public getting access to the directory, don't link it to any of your public pages, and ask editors and writers not to link to it from their pages.