Corporations are quickly trying to catch up on their social media education, so they can learn to develop their own social networks and use them to start profitable conversations with their customers. Fortunately for them and other newcomers to the social network scene, there are countless avenues they can pursue to find news about social media and learn how to use the new methods. And all of this education is bringing together some occasionally odd bedfellows.

Among the ways these organizations are learning about the recent social networks is by participating in the Social Media Breakfast series. These meetings were founded by a man named Bryan Person, who describes himself as a "social media evangelist" for LiveWorld, a company that helps companies promote their brands by way of social networking.

The meetings normally occur on a monthly basis, and assemble media networking experts and enthusiasts with business people, to learn the latest information and policies concerning social media, and discover how to put this new media to work for their companies. There are many other meetings and clubs similar to this that assist commercial clients.

The Mashable (www.mashable.com) website, though, is probably the best online resource available, and any corporation hunting for news about social media would do well to keep the site permanently bookmarked. It provides the most up to date news on social media in general, which is valuable in itself. But it also categorizes and highlights articles about the most important media sites or current trends, so people can find those easily. And it's one of the sponsors of the Open Web Awards, with categories like Best Social Media Agency, Best Brand Use of Facebook, Best Online Video Web Series, and countless others.

It's become crucial that companies beef up their social media education in a hurry, and there's an entire industry out there now to help them do it. Between the breakfasts, conferences and tech websites, they can now acquire news about social media and quickly bring themselves up to speed. Whether it means rubbing shoulders with computer geeks or more corporate types, it doesn't seem to matter as long as they're learning.