March Social Media Star: Ken Hawkins

Social media has impacted how we gather and view news worldwide, and media outlets continue to struggle with a way to combine social media with traditional journalism to find a model that works. We think our March Social Media Star, Ken Hawkins, has the solution: TheDigitel.

TheDigitel, founded by Ken in 2008, is currently based in Charleston, S.C., but headed to other cities soon. It’s a site that connects readers to news from local media outlets and also produces its own stories, while integrating social media tools like Facebook and Twitter in a helpful way. They’ve also created an innovative ad model integrating real time social media content from their advertisers.

TheDigitel, which recently secured funding for expansion, has its finger on the pulse of news in the 21st Century. We once heard Ken say that citizens will become the gatherers of news and the journalist’s new role will be to provide context. We think he’s right!

Ken wears many hats at TheDigitel.com, acting as Web master, information designer, owner and editor in chief. To keep the site up to date, he spends four or more hours a day on social media sites, monitoring news and events.

Here’s what Ken had to say about social media:

What is your job/company/profession/title?
Web master/info designer/owner/editor in chief/guru for Giant Hawk Media — that’s TheDigitel, an online Web-optimized newspaper. There I more or less do information design and journalism.

What was the first social media technology you used?
First. Hrm. Would probably be Friendster or Flickr. The first I really used was MySpace and Twitter (I think my Twitter account goes way back into ’06.)

What is your favorite social media tool?
Most certainly Twitter.

How have you used social media for your business/company and how has it benefited?
While social media has been useful to us by offering more efficient communication channels with our readers and customers, it has been eminently useful to us in an information-gathering capacity. Twitter allows us the ability to gather real-time news reports and feedback from readers, while Facebook allows new ways for members and businesses of the community to pass along info about an upcoming band performance or restaurant opening.

Twitter has been doubly interesting, as advertisers that use our Dynamic Ads can both inform their followers and instantly update their advertisement message.

How much time would you say you spend a day engaging social media?
I’d say 1-2 hours actively corresponding, but perhaps 4+ hours monitoring news and events.

How do you incorporate it into your day so it’s not a time waster?
What’s your best tip for using social media for business?
I’ll lump these two together. I maintain one set of accounts for business identities and one for personal. It’s something professionals have done for ages with phones and desks, but many don’t do it for social media.

Is there a social media tool/technique that you think is underutilized that you would like people to know about?
Too many people use Twitter to hammer out a message or go onto bizarre sidetracks with their business accounts — more than anything Twitter is a chance to grow business relationships. Be social, but stay on topic.

And outdated blogs/Web sites with inadequate information drive us nuts as a local media company.

Where can people find you online and via social media?
http://www.twitter.com/TheDigitel
http://www.twitter.com/khawkins98
http://thedigitel.com
http://allaboutken.com/work

Anything else?
Thanks for featuring me. And, fun factoid, TheDigitel.com receives almost as much traffic from Twitter+Facebook as Google.