A tricky question for media companies will be how to best harness the power of social networking.

Some companies like USA Today have built in social networking straight to their sites. I think all journalism companies should embrace social networking, especially local sites. USA Today may be a poor candidate for social networking because it has an unfocused audience and content stream.

But let’s face it: social networking will always be done best by dedicated companies like Facebook and Myspace, and that’s what we’ll tackle today. Certainly, there is a market of young, educated individuals out there for media companies to tap into on those networks.

Journalism is facing a crisis. The majority of people reading papers and watching TV journalism are old, but social networking sites give journalists the chance to turn that around — if they play their cards right.

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