We’re improving our social media

For the month of March, I’ll be working on improving the social media presence of our newspapers on Twitter and Facebook, which are two ways readers can find links to our websites and interact with our content.

I hope to make lasting changes that improve the way we disseminate digital content and enhance the online conversations we have with readers every day.

We’ve been using those platforms for quite sometime, but now it’s time to step up our efforts. Social media users can expect vast improvements, including livelier discussions, more frequent posts, clearer tweets with easier-to-use links and content they won’t find on our sites or in print.

Readers who follow or like us on their phones and tablets should see noticeable improvements.

I’ll also be finding ways that the Times Community News websites in Orange County, dailypilot.com, hbindependent.com, coastlinepilot.com and theocnow.com, can better showcase social media outlets.

Although the websites are always live, Twitter and Facebook have proved invaluable in providing breaking news, developing a dialogue with readers and answering questions regarding relevant topics or stories.

It’s also a new avenue to get readers connected to our products, whether it’s with vacation photograph submissions, comments, or reporters reaching out to residents to interview them for stories.

While many readers still go to their driveways to pick up our papers and tangibly read our print products, more and more people are logging onto social media networks while they enjoy their morning coffee, and throughout the rest of the day.

Our staff is on both social media networks, and we encourage you to not only follow editors and reporters but also discuss their stories, their beat and the paper with them.

If anything, Twitter and Facebook is opening the door to learning more and more about an integral part of our newspapers: their readers.

Follow the Daily Pilot on Twitter at twitter.com/thedailypilot and on Facebook at facebook.com/dailypilot.

Follow the Coastline Pilot on Twitter at twitter.com/CoastlinePilot and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/coastlinepilot.

Follow the Huntington Beach Independent at twitter.com/HBIndependent and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/hbindependent.

JOANNA CLAY is a Times Community News staff writer. Follow her on Twitter @joannaclay.