I can't help feeling that we've seen the death of the embargo in any meaningful form this week.

The word 'embargo' has a Spanish origin, dating back to the 16th century, and started out as a Government order restraining the movement of merchant ships.

It has gone on to become part and parcel of the life of journalists throughout the history of newspapers and other forms of the media, restraining them from publishing or broadcasting information until an agreed time.

To be fair, there's always been the risk of embargoes being broken from time to time if the news is too tempting, but they've largely been respected.

The Queen's Birthday Honours are a good example. Media organisations get them in advance, under a strict midnight embargo, so that we can plan our pages in advance and generally be prepared. For a journalist to break such an embargo would risk being carted off to the Tower.

But the huge growth of social media makes me wonder if there's any point in sending out information under embargo any more.

Take last night's controversial news about Newcastle United renaming St James' Park as the Sports Direct Arena.

It was released under a strict midnight embargo and mainstream journalists stuck by it throughout the evening, knowing that a breach could seriously damage relationships with the club.

The trouble, of course, is that journalists are gossips by nature. They whisper it to their mates and, before you know it, a forest fire of Tweets and Facebook messages has been lit.

We stuck firmly to Newcastle United's midnight embargo, despite the fact that it was leaking all over the internet hours before.

Even the Honours won't stay secret. It's inevitable that 'I have it from a good source that it's going to be Sir Brucie' Tweets will swiftly be in circulation.

Editors are occasionally entrusted with matters of national security. D-notices, requesting editors to keep quiet about specific subjects relating to defence, were introduced in 1912.

In modern times, it is remarkable how well the request for a news blackout on Prince Harry serving in Afghanistan in 2008 was respected for so long.

But a lot has changed in the last few years. Social media has gathered pace at an incredible rate and is now uncontrollable, as those celebrities who tried to take out super-injunctions will know all too well.

So, if I was responsible for releasing an important piece of information to the media, would I do it under a timed embargo? Quite honestly, I wouldn't see the point.

Call a press conference and get it out there - that's what Newcastle United should have done.