Max Garrone, senior news producer at SFGate
I couldn’t think of a more relevant speaker for our Intro to Online Journalism class than Max Garrone, senior news producer at SFGate.com, the Bay Area’s leading news site. I’ve worked with Max on a number of projects and he has always impressed me with his knowledge of the online sphere and collaborative nature.
During his hour with us, he shared a number of things that the casual SFGate reader may not know, including:
- The typical weekday reader is looking at the site while at work; peak times are 7-9 a.m. and 12-2 p.m.
- The fact that the home page features links to stories by “competitors” is a significant change in strategy that occurred this year.
- There’s a reason “Daily Dish” and “Day in Pictures” are featured “above the fold” on the site — they’re consistently the most popular features, which tells us something about the audience.
Typical times when traffic peaks at SFGate
Max also spoke about the opportunities for aspiring journalists; in particular, he’s interested in photo features (and two students expressed interest in pursuing this). As for writers, he suggested trying to become a contributor to an established blog/hyper local site as a way to get some experience. Of course, a personal blog, if done well, can also help open doors.
When it comes to applying for a job, he also touched on the importance of what some call the invisible resume. That means making a great impression on teachers, anyone you have worked with professionally, even fellow classmates.
If students aren’t already in that mode, they need to flip that switch now. Or as I put it during class, “The tryout began yesterday.”
The Mouse Is Mightier Than the Sword 