Hi John -
We agree more than you realize. It *is* about the content - and in the case of the Social Media Press Release, the Format *enhances* the Content.
How many releases do you put out nowadays that includes multimedia content automatically, to make the job of both journalist and blogger easier? How often today do you create an opportunity for *yourself* to become a longer-term steward of your client's narrative (via the del.icio.us page I have talked about at PR Squared)?
This "newfangled thingywhatzit" is a way to become a Research Assistant to the media and a Content Creator for the blogosphere.
---All of which is probably eliciting a big, fat "Huh?" 
I'll write more about this stuff in the days ahead, and will hope to sway you a li'l bit.
Todd:
Sorry for the delay in responding.
The truth is that I don't dislike your template. I can see where it could have real value for the right journalists. And I know you'd agreed that that's the key to successful media relations ... customized contacting based on what individual journalists want and need.
In fact, you designed your template and opened it up to everyone with a very honest, straight-forward approach. I thought that was cool.
What irked me a tad, however, was the inference that I got from Foremski's post ... that a handful of people who "get it" would create a new template for the rest of us lowly practitioners to adapt to.
I know it's simply a matter of approach and semantics. But that matters sometimes.
Keep up the great work on your blog and in promoting social media.
As a regular reader of both this blog and Mr. Defren's, this post (and the comments) were very interesting to me. Personally, I'm a fan of the "social media news release", though I think it could use a catchier / shorter name. I think that "chopping up" the content is actually one of the format's strengths, because it makes it easier for journalists to adapt the news to their publications' style and audience.
I'd really like to hear more back-and-forth about the pros and cons of this. I wrote a post on my blog (brand new to the blogging thing, be gentle), but a conversation between two veteran PR guys would be much more productive than a rookie's ramblings.
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