Homes4Media today underlined the growing importance to journalists and PRs of Network, the site's social network, by releasing a flurry of enhancements in one of the brand's largest-ever tech drops.

A key feature of the launch is Network Alerts, a daily email amalgamating new content from across each user's network, including their connections' Updates (instant posts), profile changes, Stories and Travel Plans.

The improvements are designed to accelerate adoption of Homes4Media's instant 'Chat' feature, launched earlier this year. Chat allows users to instantly communicate within a 'messenger' pop-up window. The feature, available bottom right of any Homes4Media page, reveals everyone a user can instantly chat with, based on their approved connection requests.

Another new feature allows users to set connection request management to 'Automatic' - meaning each time they accept an invitation to connect, Homes4Media will instantly follow the requesting user back, creating a full connection. For those that prefer to decide each follow-back decision individually, 'Manual' remains the alternative setting.

A further option allows anyone (entering via Homes4Media.com) to set their landing page either to 'Feed', the site's comprehensive round-up of all breaking content (from press releases to Journalist Alerts, Updates to Stories) or instead land in 'Newsroom', home to all the industry's latest press releases.

Homes4Media has also rebranded its successful Community section as 'Updates', merging it with the successful instant Updates functionality launched earlier this autumn. Users can issue an Update and mark it for 'Everyone', all 'Journalists', all 'PR Managers', or simply their 'Network'. When a User selects 'Network', the post will automatically feature on their contacts' new Network Alerts. Updates sent to 'Journalists' or 'PR Managers' will instead feature on the site's existing News Alerts.

Said Henry Hemming, CEO fo Homes4Media: “Network has gained considerable traction among journalists and PRs this year, so this tech drop promises two major outcomes. Firstly, we see our users treating Updates as an alternative to other instant networking channels such as Tweets. Secondly, we believe Chat will become a powerful new channel for instant journalist-PR communications, for example when a PR wishes to pitch a story idea to a leading industry writer.

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EDITORS NOTES

Homes4Media is a social network uniting journalists and PR professionals across the homes, interiors and gifts sector.

The site is the media's key route to sourcing news and issuing requests for information, and PRs' prime channel for building relationships with the media.

Homes4Media offers a social network, press release distribution, press centres, event calendars, Journalist Alerts and more. The technology used by the site has become an essential service for journalists and PR professionals in their day-to-day activities, as they connect and share information.

Homes4Media is owned by News4Media, a UK-based company which also operates Property4Media. News4Media runs its websites in parallel in the UK with TravMedia.com and Food4Media.com, portals owned by TravMedia.com Pty Ltd.

For further information, please contact:

Becky Sage, Content Editor

Homes4Media

T: +44 (0)20 3440 8911

E: becky.sage@homes4media.com