Socialization of the press..... Doesn't that sound like an easy concept?

First, let me tell you about my internship as an undergraduate. I worked for The Mississippi Press and the Press-Register in Mobile as a high school reporter. We would always receive press releases and other forms of communication from organizations in our e-mail. Well, about halfway through the internship my boss came to me about creating a Facebook page for the high school athletics that I covered. I agreed to accept this challenge as I am sure you would guess. Once the page was created I was in charge of maintaining the site which came easy to me considering how often I was on Facebook to begin with. Anyways, the point of the story is that once the friends list grew to a certain amount, most of the press releases and other communication we in the sports department received flowed through the Facebook page. The growth and usage of our page directly affected how high schools used social media. It is important to know we advertised the Facebook page in the newspaper which helped expedite the growth.
It is apparent that the need for companies to use social media as a way to communicate information is important. Society has shown that social media is more than a trend. People across the world use this forum to give and receive information so it only makes since that companies and organizations get involved in releasing information this way. Why ignore something or refuse to use it when it so glaring that this is not a future tool but a current tool?
Another interesting idea behind social press releases is the ability to skip the journalistic step that traditional releases require. Organizations have the ability to release information directly to a selected audience of their choice. Additionally, these organizations will not have to jockey for media attention because of access to their public. For companies an organizations, one effective tool of social releases is their ability to include different types of information presented in different ways. Rather than only being able to send text like traditional releases, video and audio files are easily added to social press releases. This addition helps ensure that people will like your message and cover it in their respective news outlet. Templates can be bought or downloaded for free, depending on the extensiveness, that aid in making social press releases. They can be very simple or extremely detailed if that is what is desired.
So, as I get ready to start my second and final year of graduate school and prepare to enter the "work world" I must stay mindful of the ongoing growth of social media and other forces that are now driving the communication industry. Check out this video from www.youtube.com on social press releases.