PRWeb, the press release service owned by PR software company Vocus, added Twitter functionality to their distribution options today.

Kind of like the Shorty Awards, you type in your username and password along with your message, and PRWeb spits out a Tweet with a shortened URL without you having to log on to Twitter. It goes out at the same scheduled time as your distribution to the wire. One less thing think about.

There, now you know. Maybe the industry really is on to something with Twitter. The nature of press releases keeps people from announcing things succinctly. For example, the very release announcing this function runs a hefty 860 words--with two source quotes, two boilerplates, and an SEC disclaimer. Cheers to Vocus's Director of PR Robin Lane for picking up the phone and calling me about it--another great way to communicate.