For the latest in news and opinion, long gone are the days when you needed daily visits from a paperboy. In fact, you no longer even need to turn on the television or troll the Web’s myriad news sites. All you need is a little help from some of your own influential friends. Your Facebook friends, that is.

Members of the Washington press corps have started flocking to Facebook, the social networking Web site that was originally designed as a MySpace just for college students while founder Mark Zuckerberg was still at Harvard. Nearly two years ago, Facebook was opened up to anyone older than 13, and for an increasing number of people in politics it’s turned into a sort of “shadow” Washington. It’s now a place where hundreds of journalists, politicians, political operatives, think tank people, lobbyists and advocates create pages — and spend parts of their days “friending” one another, trading messages, alerting their friends to favorites news stories and sharing photos and even video.

Some journalists and opinion writers are also using Facebook as a secondary distribution system for their work, hoping their efforts at viral marketing increase their audiences at a time of sagging circulation and viewership. They send their Facebook friends (some of whom, let’s face it, are hardly acquaintances) links to their scoops, op-ed pieces or blogs — or sometimes their every thought, using an application called Twitter.

“This being a particularly intense political year,” said Robert A. George, a columnist and editorial writer for the New York Post who also blogs at raggedthots.blogspot.com and has links to his writings on his Facebook page, “you want to find as many different ways as possible to try and get your information out there, particularly as there are so many political blogs making so many different political points.”

Newspaper distribution has evolved over the years. It used to be you had to buy your paper at the newsstand. Migration to the suburbs ushered in the heyday of home delivery. And some of these social networking devices are a 21st century means for getting more information into the American family room, George says, although in a slightly more intimate way because the hotlinks are being served up on a friend’s recommendation.

Other writers see Facebook as a way to get quick feedback on their work from their most trusted sources and colleagues — or from their “virtual” friends. “It’s like giving people your private phone number so they can give you feedback on what you write without going through some huge bureaucracy,” said Howard Kurtz, The Washington Post’s media writer and host of CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” who created a Facebook page for himself while writing a story about the site and now posts updates with links to his blog or articles or observations. “I regularly get smart and heartfelt comments, along with the usual political rants.”

Media bigwigs may have stumbled into the four-year-old technology, but they’re now eager to be considered early adapters. USA Today’s Washington bureau chief, Susan Page, joined Facebook as way to interact with her children. But after several political people “friended” her, she says she “definitely sees some workplace potential.”

Media companies are still reeling from having not capitalized on the Internet’s revenue-producing possibilities at the outset. In December, ABC News announced a partnership with Facebook featuring not only political coverage but interactive applications, such as polls and debate groups. The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and NPR have all set up pages on Facebook with links to headlines and content. Loyal customers from around the world can become “fans” and feature links to their pages on their own Facebook pages.

Some writers have joined the ranks of celebrity, joining such icons as Madonna and the Jonas Brothers with their own fan pages. New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof, for one, has 6,600 “fans” of his page, where he features links to his columns as well as photos from his recent trips to the Middle East and the Amazon.

The Times has a daily news quiz that Facebook members can add to their personal pages and use to see how smart they are in current events compared with their friends and all test-takers worldwide. Such marketing is helping to broaden readership in a time when news organizations are losing advertising and circulation to the Internet. “This isn’t a traditional newspaper-reading audience,” said Ellyn Angelotti, who studies interactivity at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, a journalism think tank (and, ultimately, this magazine’s owner). While plenty of people in their 30s, 40s and 50s are joining, Facebook was originally the domain of the 18-24 set. “But it’s getting more traffic to their Web site and they’re becoming known as a relevant source of news and information in reaching a new audience.”

The viral nature of Facebook is by no means the answer to the news business’ prayers. But it may be changing the dynamic between news gatekeepers and their readers. “If I see something one of my friends suggests, I’m going to look at it,” Angelotti says. “I’m now reading what my friends and social network is suggesting and not necessarily what editors suggest.”

Elizabeth Wasserman is a Washington freelance writer. She can be reached at ewasserman@cq.com. For a complete listing of her column, click here.