Since you’re reading this, you likely already know what ProfNet is. But here are five things you might not know about ProfNet for reporters:

1. You can filter requests.

When you submit your query, you can choose from 14 institution types, giving you more control over who will see your query and helping minimize responses you can’t use:

• Activists: individuals or groups that apply pressure on organizations whose activities or policies they would like changed
• Analysts: includes financial and sector analysts
• Authors, Speakers & Consultants: includes publishers; PR agencies that specialize in authors; and hundreds of individual authors, speakers and consultants
• Bloggers: an expanding community of influential industry and political bloggers (all have signed agreements not to re-post queries)
• CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Officers: an officer-level position responsible for the oversight and management of an organization’s CSR initiatives and activities
• Colleges & Universities: includes colleges, universities and academic medical centers in the U.S., Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America
• Corporations: includes corporations in nearly all industry sectors; for the widest corporate reach, also select Public Relations Agencies (see below)
• Government Agencies & Laboratories
• Hospitals & Medical Centers: to reach most of our academic medical centers, also choose Colleges & Universities (see above)
• Legislative Offices
• Media & Broadcast Companies: includes PR reps for U.S. news organizations (all have signed agreements not to re-post queries)
• Nonprofit Organizations: think tanks, associations, charities, foundations, human-services agencies, libraries, zoos and aquariums; most are U.S.-based.
• Public Relations Agencies: includes PR agencies and solo PR practitioners
• Small Businesses

You can also opt to send your query to a specific region, down to the state.

2. You can request “real people,” not just experts.

While ProfNet is mostly used by writers looking for expert sources, we also send out quite a few requests for anecdotes and “man on the street”-type interviews.

To submit a “non-expert” query, just fill out the regular query form – we’ll take care of the rest.

3. We’re more than just queries.

In addition to the query service, we also offer two other ways to find experts:

• Expert Alerts, our e-newsletter, includes listings of experts and story ideas, as well as job openings and links to interesting news and resources
• ProfNet Connect, our online network, features more than 50,000 searchable multimedia profiles of experts, PR pros and other influencers

4. You have access to PR Newswire for Journalists.

Your ProfNet login gives you access not only to ProfNet, but also to PR Newswire for Journalists, where you can:

• Search an archive of press releases distributed over PR Newswire
• Set up profiles based on geographic relevance, industry, company name, language, ticker symbol or keyword(s)
• Receive news releases by email
• Download images, including corporate logos and photos of celebrities, executives, products and events to help you supplement your story
• Access an embeddable Web widget that allows you to receive PR Newswire feeds right onto your blog, personalized page and website

5. It’s absolutely free!

All of PR Newswire’s services for journalists are completely free of charge. So whether you need to send a query, search the experts database or access news releases, PR Newswire is here to help.

Have a question about ProfNet? Drop me a line.