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markcoatney:

Always lead with the news: I’ve decided to leave my position at Newsweek and accept a job at Tumblr. Though this is cliche, it is indeed true that this has been a difficult decision for me. I have been and continue to be a loud and persistent defender of Newsweek, and this is not (mostly, anyway!) simply because they sign my checks; I very much believe in the people and publication, and think they’ll be doing really great work for many years to come.

But this decision isn’t about the future of Newsweek; it’s about the future of Tumblr, and what I believe is a really interesting and great opportunity to help shape and grow a community, and to guide publishers into a new and better way of connecting with their readers. One of the reasons I’ve long been interested in online journalism is in the ways it can be, in a way no other medium can, a two-way communication between writer and reader; Tumblr is one of the best ways I’ve seen to accomplish that.

My new job, basically, will be to take the lessons I’ve learned at Newsweek and bring them to other media outlets. The mission is to show how this platform can be key to connecting journalists and readers, making the process more engaging and conversational. The approach will be the same that I’ve taken in creating the Newsweek Tumblr: That the most important thing for any publisher is to first be a full, participating member of the community, and that the main focus should be on meeting the needs of that community, not self-promotion.

This is awesome news for Mark (and Tumblr!).  Newsweek has gone from the magazine I had forgotten existed to a news source I regularly click through to via the Newsweek Tumblr, entirely due to Mark’s efforts.  

That said, I have some doubts about his new role.  The single most important thing I’ve learned about community management after seeing it in action at various portfolio companies (and being a member of several online communities) is that authenticity is paramount.  The person in charge of an organization’s community engagement (in NW’s case, Mark) is far more important than the medium (Tumblr, Twitter, FB, whatever-is-next) used.  If the person is a passionate fan of the service they are evangelizing, they tend to succeed. That said, if news outlets have enough sense to hire good community evangelists, then I’m confident Mark can teach them quite a bit about how to use Tumblr optimally.