Ed: 'Hold the front page while Twitter has a look'

Peter Barron, the editor of the Northern Echo, has blogged about how he used Twitter to help design Saturday's front page of his paper.

Saturday's splash about the threat of Darlington Football Cub - "The Quakers" - being forced to close after 128 years was based on Baron's idea for a graphic incorporating a ref's whistle.

The front page was shown for comments on Twitter while it was being designed.

Barron blogged: "It's been a really interesting experiment tonight - building the Northern Echo front page in stages on Twitter.

"The interaction from followers has been remarkable and new followers have joined during the process.

"Some comments have influenced the look of the page, with suggested changes and ideas being taken on board.

"I'm not sure if it's been done elsewhere but it's been fun and I'll definitely do it again. Sports editor Nick Loughlin followed suit with the sport front page and has also had good reaction."

Barron added: "I had the idea to incorporate the whistle in the early hours of the morning when I couldn't sleep and remembered I had one in a drawer somewhere.

"My special thanks to front page sub-editor Jo Kelly who put up with her work being in the Twitter spotlight...Thanks also to graphic artist Chris Moran for working on the central graphic."