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Fairfax enhance social media arsenal with new appointment

Fairfax Media, publisher of stuff.co.nz has appointed journalist and blogger Greer McDonald, who has been a news reporter specialising in online issues at The Dominion Post for the last two years, as its first social media editor.

A self-confessed social media junkie, McDonald uses tools such as Twitter (a recent Tweet discusses diddles, burger rings and binge drinking in the morning), Facebook and her popular blog Greer 2.0 (a finalist in the 2009 Qantas Media Awards) on Stuff.co.nz and dompost.co.nz to connect with readers.

Fairfax’s Group digital editor Sinead Boucher says the new social media editor position recognised the growing importance of social networking and the huge part it played in people’s lives. The appointment is part of the group’s wider social media strategy and, to her knowledge, Fairfax Media was one of only a handful of media companies around the world to appoint a full-time social media editor.

“The position is designed to find new ways to reach and engage with readers and to help them interact with our content beyond Stuff.co.nz and other Fairfax Media websites. People are using social networks not only to communicate with friends and colleagues, but to source news, find out what is going on in their communities and share great stories or ideas with others,” Boucher says.

McDonald studied journalism at Waikato Institute of Technology and received the Waikato Times excellence in journalism award.

“Social media is about conversation and I’m looking forward to increasing that dialogue with readers of both Stuff and Fairfax’s other newspapers and websites,” McDonald says. “Developing a social media strategy is just as important to media companies as it is to those who consume news. It’s mutually beneficial and something that isn’t going to fade away any time soon.”

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