Few in the newsroom can find strength in numbers through social networking
Jack Lail and I are
now connected. Jack is the managing
editor of multimedia for the Knoxville
News Sentinel, a paper that’s been a leader in the push toward online.
Jack
blogged an invitation to “be sociable” and connect to him on Facebook,
Linked-in and other social networks. So I did.
We’re a part of a growing, yet feisty group of people trying
to meet the demands of a changing industry. And we need to stick together.
Ryan Sholin talked about trying to find the
early adopters in each newsroom, and what a struggle that has been for him:
“The important part of the job isn’t speaking to the
first 20 people on the conference call for an hour, it’s maintaining contact
with the one person on the call who has the potential to Get It”
It’s a struggle for all of us. Think
about it. If there’s only one, or two,
or even a handful of people who are trying to make the shift in our mindset,
that means there are many more resisting.
It can be a lonely space. We
need to support each other as much as possible.
So let’s connect, stick together. I’m passing forward Jack’s invite to “be sociable.”