Twitter sent another ripple through the traditional media world this week when it hired Steve Ladurantaye, formerly the media reporter for The Globe and Mail, as its manager of news and government partnerships for Canada.
Marketing caught up with Twitter CEO Kirstine Stewart (who jumped from CBC Television to join the social media giant as its managing director earlier this year) to ask about the hire and Twitter’s relationship with news media.
Why did you make this hire? How does this position fit into Twitter Canada’s business strategy?
Encouraging users to create great content and training news organizations, government officials and emergency service how best to use the platform is good for Twitter as a service.
What will Steve’s role – manager of news and government partnerships, Canada – entail?
Education is a big part of his role. He will showcase to Canadian news and government users the best practices of similar users worldwide as he works together with the international media team.
How would you describe your evolving model to hire on more journalists? Why is it important to do so at this stage of Twitter Canada’s growth?
Steve understands from the viewpoint of a journalist using the platform the challenges and opportunities to better using Twitter. We don’t create content at Twitter, but we provide the space and distribution platform for journalists to use to their – and [our] users’ – benefit.
