In a much anticipated move, the social media giant has finally unveiled its next step in advancing the power of journalism through social networking. It’s described as a central resource tool for journalists and the public to share, interact and find sources on the site. Try and stop us now Julius, Jimmy, Floyd and the other haters out there.

Justin Osofsky, Director of Media Partnerships, explained that the company will also be launching a Facebook Meetup Programme for journalists to learn about the new tool:

We’ll be hosting events around the globe to have hands-on workshops on how to use Facebook as a reporting tool, and engage in an open dialogue with the journalism community.

Of the 2500 odd “likes” on the page at the time of writing this piece, I noticed Christiane Amanpour and Diane Sawyer’s names on the “Like” page which you’ll find here. They’re what one refers to as “big cheeses”.

According to Facebook statistics:

Since we first launched these initiatives at the beginning of 2010, the average media organization has seen a greater than 300% increase in referral traffic from Facebook.

Basically that means we are all using Facebook for our information gathering, both on a social and serious level, a lot more than we used to.

Osofsky continued that:

The Page will provide journalists with best practices for integrating the latest Facebook products with their work and connecting with the Facebook audience of more than 500 million people.

Think of it like a Google search type function where there is the potential to share masses of information relevant not just for journalists, but the public too, in one place, very quickly.

[Source: MediaMatters]