Facebook seems to be changing their approach to communicating new features/functionality. In the past Facebook would just use their blog or the developer blog to communicate new functionality. Media sites and other blogs would then pick the new features and write about them. The approach worked reasonably well but wasn’t really inline with traditional PR and media relationships.
With the Facebook IM launch and improved privacy settings Facebook seems to be using a traditional PR and media engagement. Cnet News seems to exclusive coverage of the new features with screenshots of both the privacy settings and the IM client. The Facebook blogs have been quiet on these new features, even the developer blog which generally gives Facebook developers a heads-up on features that will impact them.
I think this new approach is an interesting evolution for the company and definitely shows signs of Facebook growing up…