journalist

How I went from Journalist to Community Marketing Manager

March 19, 2008 By Dan Thornton

For the last seven years, I’ve been lucky enough to combine my love of motorcycles and the internet by working on www.motorcyclenews.com (MCN) It’s a title with a 50+ year history in print, a title I read with my dad as a child, and a title which regularly broke news on topics like speeding and traffic laws before the national newspapers.

It was a job I was incredibly lucky to get, and over seven years I was fortunate enough to go from Editorial Assistant to eventually become the Web Producer responsible for the day-to-day running of the site (Under MCN’s Editor), and the online team.

And yet six weeks ago, I not only moved to a new job within the same company, but switched from the Editorial department to Marketing. It’s prompted a few questions about how and why I made the leap from one amazing experience as a journalist, to another as Community Marketing Manager for a total of seven websites (including MCN).

The How:-

I’ve always had an interest in the social side of the web. Back in 1998 I spent a year at Western Washington University in the U.S. and discovered broadband before most of my friends back in the UK. The huge jump in speed from dial-up meant I suddenly discovered the value of forums and chat rooms to connect with people back in the UK when I felt homesick. And after finishing my degree and getting some freelance work, I managed to fluke my way into MCN and onto www.motorcyclenews.com. (Funnily enough, my interview was David Cushman – of Faster Future fame!)

Alongside learning from very accomplished journalists and editors the art of writing and publishing daily news and sports stories, some of my early tasks included moderating the MCN forums and organising live celebrity webchats. Both of which allowed me to connect with the users of the website, and get a great insight into what mattered to them. It was hugely important in my involvement in two redesigns of the website, finding stories, and keeping the place growing day-to-day.

It also prompted me to start exploring ways to spread the MCN message to more people, hence starting pages on Myspace, Facebook and even starting to experiment with Twitter. And also, along with my colleague and friend Angus Farquhar, implementing RSS feeds and the use of video which led to him becoming full time Video Producer for the site (and me presenting the MCN Daily Show in the early days…I have a face for radio!). And we also started seeing traffic arriving from our efforts on Digg, Del.icio.us, and Stumbleupon. Oh, and sites I wasn’t so familiar with, like Indianpad.

In the meantime, I was persuaded to contribute some feature ideas on non-motorcycling topics to a free online PDF magazine Disposable Media. And somehow I found myself being suggested as Editor when my predecessor felt it was time to take a break. Again, the use of social media has played a big part in both promoting the magazine, but also in the creation of it, as after about 18 months in charge, I’ve only met one of the team of about 10 people in real life. Everything else has been achieved via a staff forum, MSN instant messenger, and the very rare phone call. And yet I’m happy to say I’m constantly amazed at the quality of writing from the other team members, the standards of design, and the fact around 20-25,000 people are downloading issues now, which has risen loads over the last 12 months, and doesn’t seem to be slowing down!

And finally, this blog has also played a part. For years I’d had opinions and ideas which I either struggled to express, or didn’t quite fit with the evolution of the brand and company. Not only did blogging (and now Twitter) enable me to meet up with lots of people around the world who were happy to listen, debate and share their own knowledge, but it also linked me with a surprisingly big group of people who were at a similar stage within my own company – but because of the size of the organisation, I’d probably never have met or conversed with. And getting some very kind and valuable interaction from the likes of Chris Anderson helped!

All of that combined to mean I came up in conversations as our company continues to evolve and make the most of the opportunities available online, and that’s also thanks to a company culture and several bosses who’ve inspired, encourage and indulged me in various ways.

So that’s the how covered. If you want a career in social media, get out and use it. Start blogging, interacting on social networks, twitter, etc. And start connecting with the people that use your company website, and the colleagues within your company.

What about the Why?

I was incredibly lucky to get my start on a title which was the biggest (and best in my opinion) at covering one of my main passions – and also on a website which was already established but incredibly driven to keep growing. Every day seemed to throw up new challenges – and access to brand new test motorcycles was definitely a perk!

But at the same time, I found myself spending more and more time researching and investigating how companies and brands were starting to engage in conversations with their users/consumers/advocates. The methods of developing, distributing, creating and marketing media and entertainment have already radically changed, and if anything, the speed of change will only increase for the next few years. And the opportunity to help innovate and inspire across several new brands and markets was too tempting to resist. It also means I get to work across disciplines – working with editorial, marketing, developers, and even advertising.

It also means I’m learning some new skills (mainly involving spreadsheets), and I’ve found the only thing that has stayed constant is the fact I’m still finding new challenges every day.

I’ll let you know how I get on. If there’s anything more I can add to what turned into an epic (hopefully not too self-indulgent) post, then let me know!

For the record, the titles I now work on are: Ask A Mum, Car, Go Fishing, Live for the Outdoors Motorcycle News, Photo Answers, Today’s Golfer. And if you’ve got an interest in any of those areas, or blog on any of those topics etc, I’d definitely be keen to here from you…

The myth of journalism…

February 3, 2008 By Dan Thornton

There’s a common romantic myth about journalism, which seems to be particularly relevant when discussing how it will evolve in the face of that ‘internet’ thing which seems to be catching on.
It’s understandable that the popular image of a journalist would be someone hunched over a typewriter or laptop, frantically typing in copy for a deadline just seconds away. It could be in a packed newsroom, or in the middle of a warzone, and there may or may not be a bottle of whiskey beside them. They finish their copy, and it goes straight into a famous publication.

That myth paints the journalist as a writer – which just isn’t true for most journalists.

The process most often seen is:

Journalist gets a tip or story from contact.
Submits story idea to Section Editor
Investigates story
Finished copy goes to Section Editor
Section Editor makes changes as necessary
Copy goes to Sub Editor
Sub Editor makes changes in conjunction with design
Approval from Editor/Deputy Editor
Gets published.

As you can see, writing skills are useful, but not essential. It’s the managing of contacts and finding the story which is the most important skill for any journalist. And I’ve known quite a few great journalists who still struggle to master the full stop, let alone an apostrophe!

And that’s also why I think there will always be a career for full-time, professional journalists (and sub-editors). It takes a huge amount of time and effort to maintain an effective contacts list, and maintain a decent flow of stories. And that’s as true for bloggers as anyone else. The most popular blogs are all able to access information from sources or contacts which aren’t as available to the general population.

And that’s always where the line will blur. The top journalists/bloggers will be working across print/digital, will be able to work across titles/companies, and will be able to command the same pay and respect as at any time before them.

The only reasons to fear the change if you’re a journalist is if you only copy publicly available press releases, or if you really fear the digital world.

(Incidentally, if you fancy reading more about the changing role of journalists, I’d recommend taking a look at HowardOwens and The Journalism Iconoclast – and despite sharing a surname, the Iconoclast isn’t a distant relative, as far as I’m aware!)

The future is still in your hands…

September 18, 2007 By Dan Thornton

Leading on from my previous pos t…

I’ve been having an interesting discussion on a Facebook group for journalism. A discussion began around the topic “Should newspapers provide new media training”.

From there it dovetailed into new vs old media. The interesting thing was seeing bloggers, professional journalists, and a founder of the Fox News Channel all in the discussion.

The crux of my argument would be that newspapers and publishers should offer training in both new and old media, and that you’d be foolish not to take advantage of both. if nothing else, you might have a slight rethink about the way you work, and make a slight improvement in your writing or search engine optimisation. On the other hand, it could spark someone revolutionary.

I don’t think you should ignore new, or old, media, and if you do, then you’re missing out. There is going to be a place for print, TV and radio for a long time yet, and the formal training of ‘old’ media could help improve the work of countless internet writers, just as the ‘new’ media training could help a lot of writing become more searchable, and findable.

Although I tend to ignore most of the rules for fun on this blog, I have no doubt that the excitement of seeing my name in print, and my efforts to become a better print journalist, have been me more able to structure and write on and offline to a reasonable level of quality. Just as new and old media can, and should co-exist, so should old and new media training. Treat all your knowledge as another thing to keep in your toolbox, and you’ll be far more capable of more jobs. And after all, isn’t one of the main journalistic qualities supposed to be the desire to know why everything is happening?