Tonight I had the chance to meet Rick Murray, president of Edelman Digital, a division of Edelman that specializes in digital communication and social media outreach. He says there’s a new 24-hour news cycle and media companies must adapt.

“Today news is broken on Twitter, guaranteed. Then it goes to the Web site, and then the newspaper,” he said. “You have to know this because this is where things are going.”

He stressed that companies of all kinds, especially media companies, need to be on Twitter and frequently use Twitter Search to see what people are saying about them. Some companies may have hundreds of mentions every day and it’s important they monitor their brand and interact with users. Only a human can do this job, he says, but it might just be one human to start.

He also said media companies should have a Facebook presence and they need to “master Google because Google is the world’s operating system.”

Murray said that anyone on Twitter can learn from Scott Monty (@ScottMonty), head of social media at Ford, who has helped launch Ford as the No. 1 most respected brand in social media today. Monty takes the time to interact with users, answer questions, talk about what he’s doing, and not just talk about Ford all the time. It’s been a mix that’s been quite well received.

Follow Murray on Twitter: @rickmurray.