“Four Questions With …” is a monthly series of interviews with different social media and community editors in the news industry.

Photo Credit: Angela Cranford

So, what is it like to be a social media or community editor? What are the job responsibilities and how does one end up landing such a gig? The goal of “Four Questions With …” is to answer some of these questions and to give insight into what is a new and constantly evolving field.

This month, we talked to Brian Ries, the social media editor at Newsweek & The Daily Beast. Unlike some other social media editors, Ries didn’t start out in journalism. He started his current job in August 2010 after working at advertising and marketing companies with a heavy social bent. He began writing for Newsweek The Daily Beast while it was one of his clients. (It merged with Newsweek later.)

Ries further caught the editors’ attention when, in July 2010, he reported a Facebook post by Sarah Palin on the Ground Zero mosque as hate speech. His resulting Tumblr post went viral and Facebook even took down Palin’s post. He ended up writing an article about it for the site.

Here are his thoughts on what skills a social media editor needs and how you can make your mark in a newsroom with an already established social media strategy. Read more

“Four Questions With …” is a monthly series of interviews with different social media and community editors in the news industry.

So, what is it like to be a social media or community editor? What are the job responsibilities and how does one end up landing such a gig? The goal of “Four Questions With …” is to answer some of these questions and to give insight into what is a new and constantly evolving field.

For the month of May, we chatted with Anjali Mullany, the social media editor at Fast Company. Previously, Mullany was social media editor at the New York Daily News. She started working with the Daily News in 2009 while a master’s student at New York University’s Studio 20, ultimately becoming the Daily News’ social media editor. In April, she left to become the social media editor at Fast Company.

Here are Mullany’s thoughts on social media, journalism and how technology is changing innovation in the field. Read more

“Four Questions With …” is a monthly series of interviews with different social media and community editors in the news industry.

So, what is it like to be a social media or community editor? What are the job responsibilities and how does one end up landing such a gig? The goal of “Four Questions With …” is to answer some of these questions and to give insight into what is a new and constantly evolving field.

This month, we talked to Matthew Keys, the deputy social media editor at Reuters. If there’s breaking news happening, you can bet Keys has already sent out a tweet about it or is posting about it on his Tumblr. In fact, you probably know him better as@ProducerMatthew.

Keys’ coverage and news aggregation of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which he did while unemployed, nabbed him a nomination for an Online News Association award for breaking news excellence. (We also profiled Keys back in March 2011.)

Keys joined the Reuters team, led by Anthony De Rosa, as its deputy social media editor in January. Previously, he worked at various California-based news organizations as an online news producer and interactive and mobile director. At Reuters, Keys is mainly responsible with publishing to the news organization’s different social platforms and coaching the staff on best social practices.

Here are his thoughts on the social media, journalism, and what news outlets need to do in order to be leaders in the social field. Read more

“Four Questions With …” is a monthly series of interviews with different social media and community editors in the news industry.

So, what is it like to be a social media or community editor? What are the job responsibilities and how does one end up landing such a gig? The goal of “Four Questions With …” is to answer some of these questions and to give insight into what is a new and constantly evolving field.

For our March edition, we sat down with Chris Hamilton, the social media editor for BBC News. He’s held the role since June 2011, taking over from his predecessor, Alex Gubbay. Hamilton joined BBC News in 2000 after a few years working as a reporter at the Press Association. While at BBC News, Hamilton has worked on the Specials Team, as planning editor for the organization’s websites, and helped organize BBC News’ coverage of the last general election in the U.K.

Here are Hamilton’s thoughts on social media editors, journalism, and the recent backlash the BBC received last month in response to updating a part of its social media guidelines on breaking news and Twitter.  Read more

The role of social media editor is a relatively new, and highly coveted, spot in newsrooms. While there are still a lot of questions about what exactly this job entails, everyone can agree that there needs to be at least one person handling social media for the company full-time.

Photo Credit: Jay Westcott

This past summer, for example, Reuters hired Anthony De Rosa to lead its social media team. And this week, ProPublica announced Daniel Victor as its newest social media editor.

So, what exactly does it take to land the gig? Who better to ask then ProPublica’s newest addition?

Read more