About the Social Media Lounge

Welcome to USA TODAY’s Social Media Lounge, the newest feature in the Media Lounge.

Developed and maintained by USA TODAY’s Marketing department in 2007, the Media Lounge offers a virtual community for media professionals to receive industry news, to learn about the latest trends and research and to find out what USA TODAY is doing as it relates to the advertising and marketing industry.

The Social Media Lounge takes it one step further by offering a living, breathing look at what USA TODAY is doing every day through marketing, communications and social media efforts. We’ll keep you posted on what we are working on, relevant industry chatter and our insights on the latest tips and trends for social media. This will be a place where we’ll post tips, case studies, best practices and general feedback on social media, with an emphasis on what we have been doing in an effort to help people and organizations apply our key learning’s to their own social media programs. We also view this space as a place where we can start conversations with readers about what works best for them.

Here’s some background about a couple of the folks who will be writing posts and responding to your comments, so that you can get to know us better:

• Brian is USATODAY.com’s Manager of Social Media & Digital Partnerships. Brian has been with USATODAY.com for nearly 5 years. In this time he has formed partnerships with leading brands such as Yahoo, Forbes and social media sites such as Fark. Brian has created opportunities for distribution of USA TODAY content via RSS, widgets, podcasts and YouTube. He has also trains internal staff on productive and effective use of social media platforms such as Twitter and utilizes various analytic tools to understand the impact of these efforts. Brian has spoken at several events on USA TODAY’s social media efforts and looks forward to sharing and learning from you. You can keep up with Brian’s regular updates about USA TODAY, social media, running, the DC-area, and travel, by following him on Twitter, @bdresher
• Alexandra Nicholson – Alex is Manager, Social Media Strategist for USA TODAY’s Digital Marketing team. Formerly USA TODAY’s Communications Manager, she is responsible for pursuing social media opportunities, social media product development, monitoring/tracking social media impact and leveraging its use to elevate the USA TODAY brand and drive additional traffic to its digital properties. Alex will focus  on research & development, strategy, social media as a public relations platform and on-site efforts, working closely with Editorial to integrate social media on-site and leverage social media for their off-site initiatives. In her free time, Alex is a local Washington D.C. food blogger for BrightestYoungThings.com, eating and writing her way through the nation’s capital.

Both Brian and Alex serve as the voice of USA TODAY in various ways: A corporate Twitter feed @USATMediaLounge, as part of the social networking team responsible for USA TODAY’s corporate Facebook presence, through this online destination and with speaking and networking engagements around the country centered around social media.

Check back in often and please don’t hesitate to share feedback with us!

Thanks!,

Brian and Alex