As part of an push to expand its social media efforts,
The Associated Press has named Eric Carvin to the post of social media editor.
In the new position, the AP veteran will coordinate the news organization's
ongoing social media efforts and work with the organization's national and
international operations to ensure that social media becomes an integral part
of every AP journalist's skills.
"No one can underestimate the power of social media in
our global reportage, nor its potential pitfalls," noted Tamer Fakahany, the AP
deputy managing editor who leads the Nerve Center in a statement. "That is why
we wanted a social media editor who was a serious and respected journalist in
his own right in addition to providing leadership on the social nets."
Carvin, who had been an AP Nerve Center news producer and
former National Desk editor at AP, has extensive experience with social and
interactive media and will be based at the organization's headquarters in New
York.
Prior to the promotion, Carvin spent two years as a news
producer at the Nerve Center, the central editorial desk at AP's headquarters.
Here he had primarily focused on using social media to uncover breaking news,
gather user-generated content, engage readers and promote AP stories and
visuals. He also played a central role in overseeing the AP news reporting.
Previously, he was a founding news editor of asap, an AP
service that pursued innovative and multimedia approaches to the news. During
his time at asap, he oversaw and edited Far and Wide, AP's first news blog and
has extensive experience with interactive storytelling methods.
Carvin, who graduated from Yale University in 1995,
joined AP in 2000 as a news researcher after five years as a writer and editor
for the Facts On File World News Digest. He became an AP National Desk editor
later in 2000, and served for two election cycles as deputy coordinator of AP's
exit poll analysis team.
