Tweet-less at The Times
New York Times' new social media editor does not tweet for one month
By KRISTIN NEHLS
Updated 1:18 PM CST, Tue, Jul 28, 2009
Ever been poked on Facebook? How about Twitter – ever been RT’d?
Whether you’re tweeting, creeping or stalking, social media is, well, really social these days.
Unfortunately, not everyone at the traditioned news organizations feels like sharing in the love.
We were duly impressed when the New York Times announced in May they were hiring a social media editor.
The bad news? Jennifer Preston, the chosen editor, doesn’t really seem to have a grasp on social media. At all.
On a platform wherein daily updates are expected and vital, Preston updated her Twitter for the first time today in exactly one month – and only hours after Mashable publicly criticized her absence in the social media realm.
No, Preston was not on vacation or suffering from a bad case of swine flu – she simply did not carry out a responsibility one might consider crucial to her job description.
Darn. As journalism tries like desperate housewives to remain relevant to over-engaged audiences, too many traditional media outlets keep forgetting about those all-important social media aspects.
Sort of like old money vs. new money, the Chicago Tribune was adamant about traditional media's role in reporting the news of Michael Jackson's death.
"Gossip site TMZ.com... was out in front with Jackson news and digital-era piplies spread the word," the Tribune said. "But it was the old media stalwarts that did the heavy lifting... reporting the fastest, most credible information..."
Msnbc.com director of new product development Cory Bergman put it best when he said, "Dismissing the value of speed and social connections is dangerous. News is not an end state, it's a distributed conversation... if it's not part of the real-time conversation, it's increasingly irrelevant."
And disappearing from Twitter for a month when over 9,000 followers are expecting an update (or 30)? Well, that feels a lot like irrelevancy at its best.
Preston responds to Mashable's article by commenting below the text, "I agree that anyone working in social media should use it. For now, I am using it to listen and to determine how I can best bring value to the conversation and how I can most effectively guide our journalists."
But we think the first word of this tweet sums up Preston and the NYT's situation best.
They may have all the news that's fit to print.
But apparently, not enough to tweet.
First Published: Jul 9, 2009 11:19 AM CST
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