When I first heard about PitchforPR, I was confused. The one week-old online middleman that looks to connect companies seeking publicity for products or services with reporters and bloggers looking for story sources sounded a lot like HARO, Peter Shankman’s well-known matchmaking tool.

A lot of things about PitchforPR and HARO are similar. Both collect queries and aggregate them into email blasts.

But HARO gathers queries from reporters looking for sources for stories they’re working on and sends them to publicists in thrice daily emails.

By contrast, PitchforPR works more like a traditional PR news wire, aggregating requests from companies or professionals with a new product or service they want to get in front of influential bloggers and writers.

Unlike traditional press release services like PRWeb that spew material 24/7, PitchforPR limits the PR blurbs it runs to 10 or 15 in one day. Each day’s email blast focuses on one industry or theme – travel and vacation, baby, music, consumer electronics, etc. The service also limits companies to 350-character releases, forcing publicists to go short on hype, long on details.

But what really sets PitchforPR apart from the PR wires, according to owner Sydnie Suskind, is a short pitch a company or individual can make for up to three areas or subjects where they believe they’d qualify as an expert – a helpful feature for a beat writer or blogger trolling for sources.

The service launched in mid-August and after the first week had signed up 150 subscribers. For now Suskind is sending three email blasts a week, but hopes to increase that to five in the near future.

Suskind, a Los Angeles inventor (she designed an adjustable handbag called the Rappizi), entrepreneur and former freelance writer, says on her blog that she started the service “because I know what it’s like to need PR and not know how to get it… without, of course, spending a fortune on a PR agent.”

Follow Suskind on Twitter at @PitchforPR.

Should you ask before following a reporter on Twitter? Is it OK to respond to a HARO request even though the expert you represent only kinda sorta knows about the issue? Is it ever OK to just pick up the phone and call someone?

No, no and no.

I don’t claim to be the Emily Post of PR-reporter netiquette. But I’ve spent enough time on the news side of that particular fence and been online since the dawn of email to have formed strong opinions as a result, opinions that based on my conversations with other reporters and freelancers, are widely shared.

If you represent a company or organization dealing with news media and wonder how email and social media fit in, here are some pointers:

DO

* Email your press release – But don’t follow up to find out if I got it, read it, like it, want to use it. If I do, I’ll be in touch.

* Follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn – So when I am looking for sources you’ll know right away.

* Respond to my tweet, LinkedIn question or HARO request – If the professor, company, non-profit or other source you represent fits my need as I’ve outlined it.

* Cover yourself – If the organization you represent makes a huge announcement and you’re not going to be around to handle reporters’ calls.

* Promptly follow up interviews – With any additional facts or materials your organization’s source promises to get to me.

* Tweet me to pitch a story idea – Or at least to see if I’m interested. Love the 140-character cut off – it keeps pitches from running on and on. If I like it, I’ll ask for more details in an email.

DON’T

* Call me – That’s why email was invented.

* Futz around making press releases arty or pretty – All I need are facts, contact information and links to pertinent websites.

* Ask what I’m working on – Chances are I can’t or won’t tell you.

* Respond to HARO requests with sources that aren’t related to the topic – FAIL. Don’t expect a quick reply either. A single HARO request can elicit dozens of replies. I try to answer all of them, even if it’s just to say thanks but no thanks. But if I’m on deadline I might not have the time. I will, however, save them for the next time I’m writing on that topic.

* Ask me to sign a non-disclosure agreement – Been there, done that, got burned, won’t get burned again.

* Ask me to send you a link to the story when it comes out – I’ll say yes because I’m polite that way, but by the time it does come out I’ll have forgotten or will be on another deadline.

* Invite me for coffee or lunch to hear about what I do – Unless it’s something I’m actively working on I can’t take that much time out of my day. If I want a F2F interview with your client, I’ll let you know. Or go to national or local meetings for the industries or subjects I write about – I’ll be in networking mode and will be happy to meet you and talk about your client.

* Friend me on Facebook – It’s the one social network I reserve for friends and family.

But after years in the business I can honestly say a good public relations rep is a treasure. The true pros make my job easier because they understand what I’m after, quickly find the person or information I need, take it upon themselves to do whatever follow up is necessary, and don’t pester me with follow ups.

So for what it’s worth, here are 10 things a media rep can do to make my life easier:

1. When I call or email, promptly find the appropriate source for the story I’m working on, brief them on the topic and set up an interview time, preferably via email. And remember what time zone I’m in so I don’t get calls to my home office at insane hours of the morning or night.

2. If you must sit in on a phone interview, be invisible. But at the end of the call, note any information the source needed to check on and send it to me as quickly as possible.

3. Don’t assume I want to interview you. I don’t. I want to interview the subject matter expert at your company, organization, agency or school. So don’t be a gatekeeper. In the rare situation where I’m OK with getting my quote from you, I’ll let you know.

4. Be easily accessible by office phone, cell or email should my editor have a question I need an answer to in a hurry. If you’re going to be out of the office, make sure someone is around who can answer my questions.

5. If I need file art for a story, send it to me or directly to the art director of the publication I’m writing the story for, in the appropriate file format.

6. Take it upon yourself to find out when my story runs rather than asking me to send you a link once it’s out. Honestly, I’ll be on deadline on something else by then and won’t remember.

7. Don’t ask to review stories before they’re published. You can’t. I have been known to send sources direct quotes to check for factual accuracy, but that’s the exception not the rule. It’s also why I ask what seems like a zillion very detailed questions during an interview, to make sure I’ve got the information down cold.

8. Feel free to email me press releases and other updates. But don’t follow up with a phone call, and don’t expect to hear back from me unless it just so happens I’m working on something related to the topic. Don’t be surprised if you never hear from me – or if I call six months down the line.

9. Know my publication. If you don’t, get up to speed by reading it online so when you’re pitching stories you understand who my readers are and what aspects of your news are relevant.

10. Accept my LinkedIn invitation so I can add you to my list of contacts there, which I regularly search when I’m looking for story sources. Or feel free to send me an invitation. And if you don’t use LinkedIn or Facebook, learn how.