Answering the New York Times’ Twitter question

Tuesday afternoon, someone previously unknown to the Twitter world, Jennifer Preston, jumped into the fray with this tweet: “Hi, I’m the NYT’s new social media editor. More details later. How should @nytimes be using Twitter?”

Quite an introduction not only as the new social media editor, but also to Twitter. Her question drew a swift response.

The Times, which is nearing 1 million followers of its main Twitter account as of this blog post’s publishing, is one of the last big media accounts to send out an RSS feed of stories on Twitter.

We at Old Media New Tricks offer congratulations to her on the new job, and an answer to her question:

Interact with your followers, and follow them. The Times account only follows Times employees right now and does not respond to followers. There’s a reason this is called “social” media. Yes, there are 1 million people who are following the account. That’s because of the Times‘ well-earned brand name recognition and excellence in reporting.

Want to get with the times, Times? Treat those 1 million followers to an interactive experience on Twitter. Answer their questions. Retweet their posts. If Ashton Kutcher can do it with even more followers, then the Times can do it, too.

Oh, and check out how the Colonel and the Statesman do it.

Once again, congratulations on the new gig, Jennifer. Let us know if you’d be up for a Q&A.

View Comments May 26th, 2009