BBC appoints first social media editor

BBC News has appointed Alex Gubbay its first social media editor. Gubbay, currently news editor for BBC Sport Interactive, will take on the new role in January, co-ordinating the work of correspondents and reporters using social media tools.
He will manage the existing user generated content hub within BBC Newswire, including news stories suggested by users, as well as their case studies, photographs, videos and comments, across the BBC website, and on TV and radio.
Newswire editor Sam Taylor, writing on the BBC editors' blog, says: "Audiences have always contributed directly to the BBC's newsgathering, especially on breaking stories. But the technology allowing people to share and send photos, video, and eyewitness accounts is developing all the time.
"Important developments in Iran, China, and even New York, have been reported for the first time using services such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. BBC News is always working to keep across new sources of information, assessing and verifying them as it would any other potential source of news-making content, and this new role will help to develop that."