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Social media editors

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Aron Pilhofer and Jennifer Preston on the new shape of social in The New York Times’ newsroom. In some ways, the most successful social media editor is an obsolete social media editor. The better you do your job — integrate social media into your newsroom, make it a seamless part of your organization’s workflow — the less you’re required to actually, you know, do your job. By that measure, Jennifer Preston‘s work as The New York Times’ first social media editor has been a resounding success — as evidenced by the fact that she will also likely be the outlet’s last social media editor.

Earlier this week, the paper announced that it’s scrapping its SM editor role, instead folding responsibility for the Times’ social media oversight into an expanded Interactive News division*, under the leadership of Interactive News Editor Aron Pilhofer. That expansion has been met with general approval from the Twittersphere and elsewhere: The idea of diffusing the responsibility for social media, shifting it from one person to a team and a newsroom, makes eminent sense. Evolving toward obsolescence.

Social media: job title, or part of the job description? What “engagement” means to The Guardian’s Meg Pickard « RJI. USA TODAY Names Social Media Editor and Social Media Analyst, creates @SocialUSATODAY - USATODAY.com Social Media Lounge ... We're all in this together. Why The New York Times eliminated its social media editor position. Earlier this week, New York Times Social Media Editor Jennifer Preston tweeted that she would be returning to reporting full-time. The news made me wonder: What would this mean for social media at the Times? Preston told me by phone that the Times plans to eliminate her position in early 2011 and shift social media responsibilities to Aron Pilhofer‘s interactive news team.

When her current job ends, Preston will begin covering social media as a Times reporter. The move is part of the Times’ efforts to more fully integrate its print and digital operations. It’s also an acknowledgment that social media needs to be — and is already — a shared responsibility. “Social media can’t belong to one person; it needs to be part of everyone’s job,” Preston said. Preston expressed these sentiments in a memo to News Managing Editor Jill Abramson last August and made the case that the job of a social media evangelist was no longer needed. Helping journalists effectively use social media.