More publishers employing social media editors
04 Feb 2010
Category: News
Source:
Publishers need to employ social media editors to maximise their presence on social networks. That's the conclusion of a trio of high profile media commentators who spoke at a panel called Networked News Gatherers: Defining the Social Media Editor Role in New York this week. Jen Preston, social media editor for the New York Times, argued that publishers needed social media editors to help encourage other editors to learn how to use community tools to most effectively connect with readers and get their stories out.
Rachel Sklar, editor at large at Mediaite.com and former media editor at the Huffington Post, said that social media had fundamentally changed her role. Sklar revealed that writing a post is now 50 percent of the work while posting it on Facebook, tweeting it and moderating the comments is now the other half of the time. Sklar believes that larger media organisations should employ dedicated social media editors, to enable other editors and writers to get on with their job of producing content. "That's why those positions are not only existing but existing with serious, qualified, awesome people in them," said Sklar. "They're not joke positions, they're real and they matter so much."
The panelists also stressed that social media was so much more than just Facebook and Twitter and that media companies need to monitor closely emerging new trends and tools.
"The most fun is scanning the horizon to see what's next," said Cyndi Stivers, managing editor for EW.com. "You just keep scampering along with it and who knows what's going to develop next?"
Sklar agreed. "If we're going to survive as an industry, we have to figure out new models. The old ways aren't working or they're working in very limited ways for a very limited number of power players."
