A news release on the Web needs to be very different from a news release in print.

Jakob Nielsen, the "guru of Web page usability,? contends that Web readers "prefer to scan rather than read, want text to be short and to the point, and detest overly hyped promotional writing … "

How many news releases do you see that are scannable, concise and avoid hype? I hope it's more than I see.

This is a topic that we'll visit and revisit from time to time. In the meantime, start with Nielsen's good advice.