I had my first tweet-the-editor session yesterday and I survived. It has been a month since I took over as editor of Hawke's Bay Today and I have tried to get out and about and meet as many people as possible.
This is, of course, in between actually working and going up to Auckland once a fortnight to see my family, who have yet to join me in the Bay.
I have found everyone to be very welcoming and I am enjoying the region and the job. However, all the meeting and greeting I have done has not been enough for our enterprising Hawke's Bay Today online editor Peter Fowler and our equally relentless circulation manager Robert Cimino. They decided I needed some exposure to the twittersphere. I am already on twitter. You can follow me on @andrewaustin5, but it was felt I needed to offer our readers the chance to ask me questions at @hawkesbaytoday. I found it a rewarding and enjoyable experience. People were kind to me and did not ask me any questions that were too difficult, but I was still able to give readers some idea of what we are doing at the paper.
@Napiermatt asked me how the switch from an afternoon paper to a morning newspaper had gone. I said there had been a few teething issues as expected with such a major change, but newspaper sales results had been great so far and we had received some good feedback from readers.
Another question was what Hawke's Bay Today wanted from the twitter community? My answer does not only apply to the twitter community but to all our readers. We want any news tips, feedback, pictures and ideas to make the paper and our website stronger. Basically we want to know about anything you want to read about. We will not only cover the breaking news, be it good or bad, but we will also celebrate any local success. Yesterday's front page lead story was about our region and its food featuring in an episode of MasterChef.
Sixty minutes on television did so much for this region. We celebrate that and will continue to promote all that is good about our region.
Some of the other questions I was asked in our twitter session were maybe not that serious, with one reader wanting to know if I would consider having a Page Three girl. Well, I think most newspapers have moved past that and also, I actually do want my wife to come down and join me in Hawke's Bay eventually.
What yesterday's session and all the interaction I have had with readers, including my favourite 87-year-old in Havelock North (you know who you are), shows is that people in Hawke's Bay care about their region and they also care about their newspaper. I often get calls from people who tell me exactly what they like and dislike in Hawke's Bay Today.
I welcome that. We want to be, and believe we are, the newspaper you turn to when you want to know what is happening in your region.
Thank you for your support.