In order to respond effectively to a reporter, we know you often must forward a query to an expert, asking essentially, “What do you think”? ProfNet 3.0 simplifies forwarding in two ways — especially if you’ve created expert profiles for all of the sources to whom you’re likely to point reporters.

First, it’s easier to forward queries manually one at a time. On the query response page, just click Forward, select the experts to whom you wish to forward the query, write a brief cover note, and send. See our tutorial on this.

Second, we introduce a new feature that enables you to set up any expert for query autoforwarding. Just set the key words or interest categories you wish to share with your experts, and the system will automatically forward queries for you. (Warning: Please be judicious in your selection of interest categories as the system forwards all queries one at a time. If you select more than two or three interest sub-categories, your expert’s emain inbox will be deluged with a torrent of queries.) See our tutorial on autoforwarding.

Whether you forward queries manually or automatically, the expert will be able to respond only to you, not directly to the journalist whose query has been forwarded. Once you’ve received your expert’s response, you may then forward it to the reporter.