by Bethaney Wallace

Earlier this year, after logging into my Twitter account, I learned that Bin Laden had been killed. It was the highest-trending topic of the week. Just days ago I learned, yet again through Twitter, that Kim Kardashian was getting divorced. (Another No. 1 trend.) Both pieces of information were taking with a grain of salt, but they got my attention – enough so that I did some internet research for proof. And as any Washington, D.C. citizen would say, both were true facts. Twitter has outgrown its initial purpose of “What are you doing?” and grown into a much larger pair of shoes: acting as the future of the press release.

Have strangers’ hasty tweets also lead me to question whether or not Justin Bieber was starring in the debut season of Teen Dad? Or whether or not Katy Perry’s account was ran by an anti-marketing communist? Absolutely; it comes with the nature of the site. It’s not only news breaking nuggets that have been made via twitter, it’s in-the-moment statements as well. It’s also why Twitter has more than 175 million users. (How many of those users would sign up for a press release-only site? I’m guessing not many.) But despite any alleged content, Twitter has the ability to release and spread information faster than any other market.

Last week on Halloween, Jessica Simpson told the world she is expecting by tweeting a picture of herself as a very pregnant mummy. Of course, the internet isn’t the only way to spread the news. There’s still the old fashioned interview, whether it be on a talk show, in a magazine, or over the air waves – Jenna Fischer announced she was having a baby boy on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. And if you’re Beyonce, you announce a pregnancy by showing up to the VMAs while clutching your baby-filled belly for the cameras.

Will the future be press release-less?

For those of you in the sharing information field, you know what a watching-water-boil process receiving a press release can be. Press releases are meant to spread info on a wide basis. And because it comes from the source the news is about, you only hear what they want you to hear and when they want you to hear it. In my days as a college paper’s news editor, I would spend hours checking email for any new messages. There may have been a robbery on campus, or a wreck 20 feet away from the building I was working in, but until there was a press release, I couldn’t share a word. Police officers and dispatchers alike are trained to give the same “You’ll have to wait for the sergeant’s statement.”

However, with the ease of information sharing, it’s only a matter of time before celebrities aren’t the only one using Twitter for their press release needs; the rest of the world will be doing it as well. Whether hard-hitting or mundane, the use of online announcements allow for more internet hits, traffic, and user interaction. And because Twitter is one of the only social media sites to verify high-profile accounts, as far as the internet goes, it just may be the most reliable source of instant information.

This photo courtesy of Flickr.