Yet Another Social Media Release Primer

I wouldn’t have thought I’d be writing a Social Media Release 101 post, given the volume of content already out there dedicated to the topic. But given Dan’s question (which leads me to believe there must be a lot of other people have the same question), coupled with developments with the Social Media Release Working Group, it’s worth revisiting the basics. The notion of the SMR has sparked a lot of opposition, mainly from people who think the press release is dead and that the SMR is a lame attempt to bring them into the social media era when they should just be scrapped and replaced with more SEO-friendly alternatives or social conversations (depending on whom you listen to). In fact, there has been a significant amount of debate over the merits of the SMR, all of which seems odd to me, given what the SMR really is and what it was designed to achieve...