As a former news reporter, I’ve been fascinated by the launch and growth of publicist Peter Shankman’s home-brew experiment, Help a Reporter.

Several months ago, in what started as a Facebook group impossibly named If I Can Help a Reporter Out I Will (IICHAROIW!), Peter set out to play matchmaker between journalists and folks in his network.

On Facebook, Peter would post message queries to the group on behalf of journalists looking for a source for, say, an article they are writing on teenagers learning to drive. It was up to the group members to raise their hands. Lots of people did. (Doesn’t everyone love a little limelight?)

Peter has since outgrown Facebook, and has set up a site and email list to do the same thing.

I’ve been interested in the growth of Peter’s group for two reasons:

• From the writer’s perspective, it offers an instant and diverse network of people ready and willing to populate all kinds of assignments. As a reporter often stuck for uncovering real-life examples of stories I was developing, I assure you it’s a bit of a gift to have a vast pool of willing individuals to tap. It definitely beats relying on family and friends (and their friends) to dramatize a story.
• It’s a real-time example of how the connectivity of social media tools like Facebook, Twitter and blogs can be used to grow and feed an organization, with incredible speed.

Last week, I caught up with Peter while he was killing time at an airport.

Why did you launch Help a Reporter?

For two simple reasons.

A) I think that other services are more about making money and less about actually getting reporters what they need. "I need someone who understands 18th century art" turns into 600 emails that say "I once saw a piece of 18th century art as I WAS WRITING MY BOOK ON HOW TO SELL THINGS ON THE INTERNET DO YOU WANT A COPY TO REVIEW?!"

And B) I think that in the end, reporters don't WANT to hate publicists, and publicists don't WANT to come across as idiots. I'd like to help prove that.

What’s been its trajectory?

It's currently over 1,400 members, and the site launched (first on Facebook, two days ago at helpareporter.com) about three months ago. It's definitely growing.

Why did you move it from Facebook?

Facebook caps group emails at 1,200 people. Once you hit that number, you can no longer email the members of your group, thereby defeating the purpose of the group itself.

Besides, now that the site is hosted as a separate entity, I can really grow it, adding new features, and making it something fun!

How much time does it take you to administer?

The site takes probably 15 minutes a day to administer. I simply take the emails, put them into a text document, at a few times a day, send them out through the email distribution list. Literally, 15 minutes a day.

WIIFY?

What do I get from it? Lots of good Karma, for one. Look - I'm a skydiver. I repeatedly and intentionally hurl myself towards the earth from two miles up several times in a day. To do that, you really kinda want as much good Karma floating around you as you can get.

But additionally, why wouldn't I? Too many people (in this industry and well as in the world) simply live on a ME ME ME!!" mentality. Why not do something good for others? It can't hurt, right?

I've been very fortunate - The companies I've started (Geek Factory, AirTroductions, speaking gigs, my book) have all done very well. Why shouldn't I give something back to account for all that luck? The fact that more people don't think like that kinda saddens me - but on the plus side, it means that I can shine without doing that much extra. So it's a nice balance.

What does the success of your group say about the ability of individuals to give an institution like ProfNet a run for its money?

HARO is growing by leaps and bounds. When I started it, I got a call from "The Head Of Profnet" (which I thought was SO funny, I blogged it here. Apparently, Profnet has never had to deal with the "competition" thing. I didn't start off to compete with Profnet. I started this to help some reporters. If it blows up enough so that it becomes another new business for me? Why not? Could be fun. And competition is supposed to be healthy, right? Perhaps it'll tone my abs. Or perhaps I should just run more.

Could this kind of thing have evolved without social media and the connectivity it offers?

We live in an age now where anyone can do anything with a website and a good hook. Twitter, Facebook, they all work to serve us if we do it the right way. If the older companies don't realize this and don't change, they'll simply be eliminated.

So the success of HARO tells us two things: 1) Companies need to constantly be on the lookout for ways to grow, expand, and move up, or they'll be gone, and 2) If you have an idea, why the heck WOULDN'T you try it? Worst case? It doesn't work, and you go back to doing whatever the heck you were doing previously. If nothing else, at least you'll know!

Finally, you went from IICHAROIW to HARO. Do you wish you had picked a more easy acronym-able name? : )

HARO is a lot better than IICHAROIW, don't you think? I also run occasional networking events called "Gathering of Useful Thinkers." How unfortunate is the acronym for that? "Hey, see you at the GOUT tonight?" (Sigh.)