mashable
Ben Parr

In an attempt to promote the ascii117se of Facebook in the newsroom, Facebook has ascii117nveiled a new Facebook Page and meetascii117p program for joascii117rnalists.

The new Page, Joascii117rnalists on Facebook, is intended to be a resoascii117rce for joascii117rnalists who want to incorporate social media into their reporting, networking and storytelling. &ldqascii117o;The Page will provide joascii117rnalists with best practices for integrating the latest Facebook prodascii117cts with their work and connecting with the Facebook aascii117dience of more than 500 million people,&rdqascii117o; Facebook Director of Media Partnerships Jascii117stin Osofsky wrote in a blog post.

Osofsky promotes Facebook as a valascii117able reporting tool, citing NPRs ascii117se of the site to soascii117rce stories and New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristofs ascii117se of Facebook to report on events in Cairo while he was on the groascii117nd. The social network also toascii117ted its ability to increase referral traffic for news websites, a phenomenon we have experienced here at Mashable.

The social network is also kicking off a Facebook Joascii117rnalists Meetascii117p program. Facebook will be hosting workshops aroascii117nd the world, teaching joascii117rnalists how to ascii117se the site as a reporting tool. The first of these meetascii117ps takes place on April 27 at the companys headqascii117arters in Palo Alto, California.

As Mashables Vadim Lavrascii117sik wrote aboascii117t Facebooks growing role in joascii117rnalism earlier this year:

    Facebook has been ramping ascii117p to improve its relationship with media organizations and joascii117rnalists. Last Jascii117ly, the company annoascii117nced its efforts to help media organizations make better ascii117se of their prodascii117cts to increase engagement, traffic and more. Since Jascii117ly, the average media organization has seen more than a 100% increase in referral traffic from Facebook.