Marketwire Unveils Social Media 2.0: Industry's Most Authentic Social Media Product

LOS ANGELES, CA, Feb 04 (MARKET WIRE) --
Marketwire, a full-service newswire and communications workflow solutions
provider, today introduces Social Media 2.0, the industry's most authentic and
comprehensive social media newswire product. Social Media 2.0 advances
today's press release format, offers public relations professionals a multitude
of
content options, and distributes news in a variety of mediums to
distribution channels beyond traditional media distribution networks. Social
Media 2.0 offers increased social network visibility to a prospective audience
of
more than 200 million Internet users, emphasizing Marketwire's commitment to
facilitating its clients' communication efforts by providing the most innovative
products and services and the best distribution options.

News Facts

-- Social Media 2.0 transforms a press release into an authentic social
media tool by enabling two-way conversation via an in-release comment
box that feeds directly into a client-monitored online newsroom.

-- Social Media 2.0 provides automatic news availability inside
hard-to-reach social networks such as iTunes(R), Photobucket(R),
YouTube(TM) and Twitter. In addition, Social Media 2.0 boasts the
largest Second Life(R) news channel distribution of any newswire.

-- Exclusive features include:
- Comment box and online newsroom
- In-release performance statistics on search engine cataloging
- Distribution to YouTube, iTunes, Second Life, Pheedo(TM),
Photobucket and Twitter
- Facebook(R) tags
- Custom RSS feeds
- Trackbacks for easy monitoring of online performance
- Search engine, Technorati(TM) and Digg(TM) results
- Embedded 500-character audio summary headline
- Distribution to more than 1,200 in-network geographically
targeted websites

-- Additional Social Media 2.0 features include:
- Newsroom integration
- 50 social tagging options
- Multiple social video and photo hosting options
- Permalinks
- Keyword cloud navigation
- Downstream distribution to more than 1,000 websites and online
news destinations

Marketwire clients can easily select Social Media 2.0 as a
distributionoption when uploading their press releases on the Marketwire site.

Resources

To view an example of a Social Media 2.0 press release, click here.

Paolina Milana, Marketwire vice president of marketing, speaks out about the
future of the press release at a January 30, 2008 Public Relations Society of
America (PRSA) teleseminar. Click here to listen.

Thom Brodeur, Marketwire senior vice president, global strategy &
development, discusses Social Media 2.0. Click here to view.

Quotes Attributable to Kevin Dill, social and multimedia product manager,
Marketwire

(Click here for Kevin Dill's LinkedIn profile)

-- "With the explosion of Web 2.0 technology and website socialization,
the newswire industry is continuously faced with new challenges.
Communications professionals must look beyond traditional distribution
channels to reach a large portion of today's audiences."

-- "The social media release is an invitation for dialogue based on
social media elements. Marketwire's Social Media 2.0 expands upon that
idea, taking that dialogue to the next level by allowing conversation to be
initiated at the press release level."

-- "The social media release takes news distribution beyond the
traditional press release, reaching target audiences through the specific
channels and formats in which they prefer to receive news."

-- "Social Media 2.0 provides Marketwire clients with increased Internet
visibility and greater search engine performance for their news, the most
social bookmarking and tagging options available, and more social video and
photo provider choices, reinforcing Marketwire's position as a leader in
social media innovation."

Quote Attributable to Todd Defren, principal, SHIFT Communications

(Click here for Todd Defren's LinkedIn profile)

-- "The democratization of news is the singular principle behind the
Social Media News Release. By allowing anyone to access, re-purpose and
engage directly with a newsmaker's content, the SMNR empowers conversations
between a company and its diverse user communities."

Social Media 2.0 Elements

-- Newsroom Integration: In-release comment box and online newsroom invite
two-way conversation.

-- Audio Summary Headline: An embedded 500-character audio summary rolls
into a category podcast made freely available via the Apple iTunes
portal.

-- Social Bookmarks and Tags: Nearly 50 social media tagging options
include heavily visited sites such as Digg, Del.icio.us, Reddit(TM),
Newsvine(R), Furl, Google(TM), My Yahoo!(R), Facebook(R), Technorati
and Netscape(R).

-- Multimedia: Embedded videos gain additional exposure on YouTube;
embedded photos, on Photobucket.

-- In-release Performance Stats:
- Display the number of real-time Digg and Technorati postings.
- Show the number of times the release is posted on Google,
Windows Live and Yahoo!

-- User-friendly Options:

- Customized RSS feed - An in-release RSS link makes it easy for
people to monitor all Marketwire-distributed press releases on
the issuing organization.

- Permalinks - User-friendly URLs make it easy for people to
refer to releases and copy or bookmark them.

- Trackbacks - Applying a technique commonly used between blogs
(called "pings"), news distributors are notified when someone
has linked to their press releases.

- Email-to-a-friend and printer-friendly version links are
incorporated into every release.

-- Keyword Cloud Navigation: Relevant keywords are bundled together for
improved site navigation.

-- Website Thumbnail: Creates visibility for the news-issuing
organization. Thumbnail displays on Marketwire's downstream partner
websites and links to the news-issuing organization's website.

-- SnapShots(TM): A keyword mouse-over pop-up that reveals dynamic
information about the release and issuing organization such as
current stock price.

For more information on all of Marketwire's communications and news
distribution solutions, please call 800-774-9473 or click here.

About Marketwire

The only fully integrated North America-based global newswire, Marketwire,
Inc. is a
full-service partner to IR, PR and MarCom professionals seeking top-tier news
distribution, media management, multimedia and monitoring solutions.
Marketwire'scustomer-centric corporate philosophy focuses on being the best by
infusingevery aspect of its business with the following core attributes:
precision,adaptability, innovation and simplicity.

Marketwire delivers its clients' news to the world's media and financial
communities, fulfilling disclosure requirements in North America in
compliance with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Toronto
Stock Exchange (TSX), and serving as Primary Information Provider (PIP) with the
UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA). With a reputation for technology
leadership, Marketwire offers innovative products and services -- including
Social Media, Search Engine Optimization, Dashboard Mobile Financial, News
Dashboard coverage reports, exclusive access to networks such as the
Canadian Press Wire Network, Easy IR and Easy PR workflow solutions, and
more -- that help communication professionals maximize their effectiveness while
ensuring accuracy and best practices. Having merged companies (Market Wire and
CCNMatthews) in April 2006, and enjoying a combined history of 25 years of
service, Marketwire is now majority-owned by OMERS Capital Partners, the
private equity arm of one of Canada's largest pension funds. Marketwire
distributes the majority of press releases issued by publicly traded
companies in Canada and serves more than 8,000 clients worldwide through 17
offices on four continents. For more information, visit us at
www.marketwire.com.

For additional information:
Paolina Milana
Marketwire
(310) 765-3250
pmilana@marketwire.com

Jamie Ernst
Brodeur
(210) 495-5757
jernst@brodeur.com

Copyright 2008, Market Wire, All rights reserved.

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