When I first learned about the New York Times hiring a Social Media Editor (that link has a good internal memo about their plans), I salivated on my keyboard. Then, reports came in that the job might be more about reigning in prolific reporters (that link is a bit mean, but hey, it’s Gawker), like David Carr, who tweet about whatever they please. That job sounds less fun. I was hoping for innovation, pushing limits, starting new trends…even if that means great crashing fireballs of failure. Anything but mediocrity and safely following the pack. Jump into the fray, NYT!
*Calming down, wiping keyboard*
They hired Jennifer Preston (@NYT_JenPreston), who started out by asking questions about what people would like to see from the Times on Twitter, balanced with talking about her twins’ prom. Fine, human tweets. She also shared a few social media links that were not so savvy, like 10 Golden Rules of Social Media, which is just a poor concept. The first rule of social media is that there are no rules of social media.
After a month, her account abruptly went cold. I started tweeting around to see what happened, asking Carr and some other Times writers, and just asking the universe at large. Nada.
Today, I got this:
Oh, hai there! Savvy move on her part (or whoever is running the account now), it’s a sign of life without actually writing a tweet.
Why do I care? I have high hopes. An institution like the New York Times needs to be making up their own rules, stretching the limits of what social media conveys and how, and a successful editorial role would be gently pushing people to do more, not less, with the medium. Asking what to do on Twitter is a nice, friendly start, but then it’s time to dive right in. Create a new trend and run with it. If it flops, move on.
Right now what I want is an inside view on what they are doing in there, what conversations are happening. Knock knock, let us in! Because it’s the ongoing development that makes for a conversation, and the meeting of minds that makes for dazzling brainstorms. They’re gestating, fine, but let us see the ideas bouncing around. Are they considering standardizing hashtags for key topics? Let us know. Are they thinking about making a twit pic account for the staff? A Flickr stream that users can submit to? Are they going to start asking readers for ideas on all travel pieces, like the Frugal Travler does when he hits a new town?
Maybe I’ll have idiotic suggestions, maybe most of the suggestions will be throwaways. But not all. Social media is able to connect audience to content producer directly, and as a result we audiences have come to expect direct involvement in the process and the final product. We can’t give great or mediocre feedback without some transparency.
So, maybe our role right now is to ask the Times, What are you doing and how can we help?
How could I not join a bookclub of super friendly people who let my bbq share their table and who are reading Persepolis and Blankets…AND who have a club initiation where you slam a can of Four Loco (like Sparks)? Right?
A few weeks ago I got all sorts of tipsy at a BBQ put on by a friend who is a sommelier and wine importer, which = excellent free wine all night. He kept appearing with delicious bottles of things I can’t afford at the store, and I kept drinking them. It was loads of fun, and though I regretted it the next morning, I did discover that I like German white wines. Along with the hangover, I woke up with the aftermath of a conversation where I vowed to learn skateboarding.
Whenever people are new to Twitter, they talk about how weird it is that people are following them. “I haven’t written anything!” or “I don’t even know who they are!” they cry, weirded out and slightly thrilled.
For people who aren’t bloggers, this is an understandably strange idea, but an important lesson. People put things on their Facebook and Flickr pages all the time that make me gasp. That drunken bday photo? Once it’s out there, you can’t assume that you control who sees it, and taking it down doesn’t prevent someone from copying and re-hosting it somewhere else. Using Twitter on your phone makes this even easier: beware the flippant tweet. 
This is Justin, 
