Journalists and PR professionals have found a new interface in social media, which helps them to forge professional relationships successfully.  There are many websites and companies that have been allowing the media professionals to interact and communicate with each other.

Many media professionals are huge fans of Help A Reporter Out, where the reporter can directly submit their queries to PR professionals free of cost. The tool offers free, quality feedbacks and suggestions for the queries from the best in the field.  PitchEngine, is another remarkable tool that connects socials network profiles, audio and video capabilities etc, and receive recent updates on any social networks they belong to. Those who do not want to lag behind with the new press releases may find this useful too.

Tools like Reporting On and Journalisted have helped PR professionals to find the right stories and of course, reporters online. However, Journalisted is restricted to UK based reporters only. Wikis, is a living media kit that cannot be ignored in the social media. The wiki pages allow real time access for the PR professionals and journalists to share their piece of information. Together with security features to protect updates and email notification options, the Wiki pages can be a serious competition to lot other social media tools.

Twitter, Twellow, BeatBlogging and WiredJournalists others help media professionals stay updated through blogging and micro-blogging. Your Pitch Sucks offers expert opinions and suggestions on the draft pitch to public relations can save a lot of trouble and headaches.

But why are these tools so wonderful? Seeking an effective and expert PR pitching can be a time consuming and costly procedure, especially if your budget is low. It is a great help for all the journalists and PR professionals. Moreover, it is a great place to meet professional friends, and social media together with its tools can fast replace real relationships. While fostering professional and personal relationships offline can be a daunting task, virtual communities and social networking sites that also double up as professional networking sites can help media related professionals to optimize their skills and performance.

Via Mashable