Help a Reporter Out

Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is an online service set up for journalists to quickly gather feedback from the public. It is designed to enable journalists to connect with people who have expertise or experience in particular issues, so that the journalists can obtain valuable advice and quotes for articles they are writing.[1] It was founded as a Facebook group in 2008 by Peter Shankman, and was later turned into a mailing list claiming over 100'000 members. In June 2010, HARO was acquired by Vocus, Inc.[2][3]

Five Rules of HARO

  1. You receive three emails on a daily basis, with queries from reporters and outlets all over the globe. Reply if you are well-informed about any of the topics and answer directly
  2. Never Spam reporters with off-topic proposals in response to their questions
  3. Never post the queries on blog or anywhere online, even though you can forward them to your friends
  4. Never reproduce the reporter email addresses in HARO emails for any cause
  5. Follow code of conduct by being good to each other

These rules are a must if one plans to be a part of HARO.[4] [5] [6]

References

  1. ^ Pfeifer, William. "How to Become a Media Source for Legal News Articles and Gain Free Publicity", About.com Law Practice Management
  2. ^ van Buskirk, Eliot (September 14, 2009). "‘Help a Reporter Out’ Crowdsources News Sources". Wired.com. Condé Nast Digital. http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/09/help-a-reporter-out-hits-paydirt-crowdsourcing-news-sources/. Retrieved 2009-09-23. 
  3. ^ Buley, Taylor (8 September 2009). "Million-Dollar Crowd Sourcing". Forbes.com. http://www.forbes.com/2009/09/08/crowd-sourcing-shankman-technology-internet-haro.html. Retrieved 2009-09-23. 
  4. ^ helpareporter. "Terms of Service". http://www.helpareporter.com/termsofservice. 
  5. ^ wordtracker. "H ow to get free links and online PR with HARO". http://www.wordtracker.com/academy/help-a-reporter-out. 
  6. ^ plexusweb. "HARO is an unparalleled small business PR tool". http://www.plexusweb.com/staff/stephanie/blog/post/295/HARO---Help-a-Reporter-Out---is-an-unparalleled-small-business-PR-tool. 

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