In case anyone doesn’t know by now, we (Vocus) sent out a white paper announcement for a new white paper on pitching bloggers.  This announcement was sent to both our Vocus customers; our PRWeb customers; and other marketing/PR pros who have opted-in to receive communications from us.  As some may know, PRWeb was acquired by Vocus last August and we have viewed PRWeb customers as being Vocus customers.  As this recent incident indicates, that is not a perception shared by all PRWeb customers. 

I’m going to be addressing this further as allowed.  For the time being, I would like to express my regret - first and foremost for the experts we asked to participate in our white paper, because their name is being associated with what many bloggers are referring to as ’spam.’  If we had asked for their advice on how to promote the white paper, they would have all told us to follow the advice they provided for us in the white paper and avoid sending a mass e-mail announcement.

Susan Getgood provides a good summary and perspective of the situation on her blog if you are interested in reading more about it.