Social media releases, to me, expand the discussion beyond form versus function and forces us to examine why we need to explore additional options and what we can bring to the table in return.

One thing to think about in any discussion related to traditional or social media releases is that stats show that good releases ARE the central point of “conversations” and more importantly, a catalyst for “action” courtesy of search engines.

In the tech world, numbers show as much as 51% of IT professionals discover news and information from press releases found in Google or Yahoo over trade journals. That’s pretty compelling…and it’s the activity and discussions inside the bubble that keep a level playing field in order for it to effectively influence the rest of the industry.

With stats like that, it starts to show you several things…1. Press releases are far from dead. 2. One press release doesn’t serve everyone. 3. There are now press releases for journalists and bloggers as well as story-based releases directly for customers.

And, when you break it down, as of now, there are search engines that comb through traditional HTML web sites and there are search engines that monitor blogs, wikis, and other forms of social media.

If customers are searching for information, make sure you have a social and traditional strategy in place and think about the content, context and building the social bridges that reach them. You might write for them differently than you would for media and you should consider utilizing all forms of releases available to you. After all, one message doesn’t fit all…

Maggie’s keeping the discussion going…if anything, we should consider that “social” in the social media release implies conversation…whether hosted internally or externally. An SMR is an ideal beacon for all of those conversations and can serve as a hub for flourishing thoughts, ideas, and opportunities for customer service and also a magnifying glass into the dialog within their online communities.

At the end of the day, take from all of this what applies and matters to the people you’re trying to reach – media, bloggers, and customers. None of these options are magic bullets. You have to do your homework and reverse engineer the distribution channels that reach them, understand what they need, and why they should listen to you, and in turn, share information within their own social networks.

The MARCOM and legal departments of public companies in SOME market sectors have become uber sensitive to ANYTHING that even remotely smacks of negativity in a market where every dime of shareholder value comes like a yard of real estate on Hamburger Hill.

The informality associated with blogging as a discipline makes backtracking and shedding honest light on discussion hazardous to a CEO’s bonus structure.

Sorry if that wasn’t clear!