Remember in late 2003 and into 2004, when certain people started claiming their affiliation with “New Media.” Yeah, that was sooooooo 2004. New Media is done. Like a well-done steak with the gristle shriveled up. Yeah, it’s that done. Social media is the new hot news source. These past few weeks proved it.

Heartbreak on the Interwebz.

Long before Jon and Kate made their “shocking” announcement to dissolve their marriage, social media outlets were rocking – first with speculation, then with unconfirmed reports. Time stamps reveal that People Magazine actually published the divorce announcement on Twitter before officially publishing their report.

All in all, an estimated 10,000 tweets went out about Jon & Kate filing for divorce before the Monday night episode even ran. As of today, everything can be found on Twitter, from first hand accounts of running into Kate, to the publishing of the divorce papers via PDF.

Of course, Gov. Sanford was no less lucky. Though he was able to keep his affair private until he made his bombshell announcement, it took no time at all for the word to get out over Facebook, Twitter, Digg, and Yahoo Buzz. By the time the Spartanburg Herald could call for his resignation, there were thousands of people all over Twitter demanding the same thing. It made the newspaper look positively dated . . . and the demand came only 16 hours after the announcement.

Death and War

Over the last few weeks, Twitter has become a torchbearer for news regarding the Iran elections and subsequent protests. Twitter users were so far ahead of mainstream news coverage of the event that many began to cry foul towards the networks, CNN in particular. Before long, CNN was actually relying on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook to provide its coverage of Iran. That alone should tell you something, folks. While the press is still trying to peg the president on a few more sound bytes regarding Iran, people all over Twitter are showing support for the Iranian rebellion in various ways: changing avatar colors to green (you can do that here) and quickly spreading the word on tweets or news coming over the twittersphere.

Of course, we also saw the passing of three American icons this week: Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson. I found out about all three deaths via Twitter, watching the “Trending Topics” bar on the right. And I wasn’t the only one. Mr. Liebson of Portland, OR said it best when he tweeted: It’s a strange world when you follow CNN breaking news on twitter, but you learn Michael Jackson died from @McCainBlogette. “McCainBlogette” is Meghan McCain, the daughter of John McCain.

Bottom Line:

“The News,” as our parents knew it, was in trouble years ago. But now, even “The News” we know is under threat of extinction. CNN, Fox News, and others tried to stay on top of the game by creating social media accounts; but it’s still people, like you and me, who are breaking the news and spreading the word.

If there’s one thing this should teach us: The People will always hold a power that The Establishment will never be able to grasp.