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Elizabeth N. Riley
Digital Engagement Editor at Chicago magazine.
Lover of life, news, and all things media.
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Tweets
- A @brianboyer hidden talent: job posts. RT @tribapps ISO detail-obsessed, hyper-organized weirdo. Must love crafting. http://t.co/L5lQMwk5
- I imagine newspaper carriers are like taxi drivers: they see a lot of shit. Find out at @ChiTribCS's #CarrierChat at 2 p.m.
- RT @nytimes: Twitter announced a new micro-censorship policy. @SominiSengupta reports: http://t.co/Po8PtvNX
- RT @whet: RT @SamAbernethy: Oh, look! @Salon has discovered @samarov! "A cabbie's view of Chicago" http://t.co/i1o2jAXA
- RT @TribChicagoLive: Want to help live-blog/tweet our Feb 2 show (w Johnny B @Sara1982P @CongregationChi +more)? Tweet us: #tweetseats
- My pep talk on the way to work this a.m. RT @brianboyer: In case you've forgotten: Demos, not memos. http://t.co/L7GsAevj
- @JanParr @brianboyer's favorite new saying is "Not surprised... just disappointed."
- Oh, my bad. You're right, Santorum, kids shouldn't go to college. http://t.co/Fz7juvYe
- This baffles the mind: Buffalo's school system pays for teachers to get plastic surgery. http://t.co/B1w4VXeD
- Getting my Chicagoans of the Year on. (@ The Peninsula Hotel) http://t.co/iUWPJEMe
- RT @AVClubChicago We see what you're doing here, Trib RT @chicagotribune Photos: Baby orangutans, elephants, koalas... http://t.co/HocQZLIO
- RT @ClaraJeffery Newt on space sex: "Imagine weightlessness & its effects & you will understand some of the attraction" http://t.co/yNVOMHTe
- The word 'secretary' first appeared in 1387. History + why its used for heads of Cabinet and admins alike: http://t.co/EjkfQhSj
- Oh hai, can I haz this bud vase? FYI: Cute things bring out my meme speak: http://t.co/RkLUATDy
- My EIC, @bethfenner, is givng a keynote at @AWJ_Chicago's annual meeting Feb. 8th: http://t.co/P75Gdx8t
- RT @ChicagoMag: DISH: @alpanasingh tells us about her project + more details emerge about Publican Quality Meats: http://t.co/pM7OjOq1
- Seeing a job posting for a "PowerPoint Specialist" seriously makes me cringe.
- RT @MotherJones RT @drgrist It takes 19 hours and 59 minutes for Mitt Romney to make the 2010 U.S. median income.
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Info
- Digital Engagement Editor at Chicago MagazineOnline Media | Greater Chicago Area, USSummaryJournalist, digital marketing specialist, and reader-engagement enthusiast, with a concentration in magazine publishing. Experience with writing and editing for both print and digital publications. Passionate about gender studies and urban issues reporting.Specialties: Social media development and strategy; community engagement; SEO best practices; branding and promotions; e-newsletter development; lead generation; website research; user-testing; focus groups; website and social media metrics and analysis; and integrated Web marketing programs. Tech Capabilities: Mac and PC proficient, Microsoft Office, Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Acrobat, Dreamweaver, iMovie, WordPress, HTML, Content Management Systems (CMS)Experience
- Oct 2011 - PresentDigital Engagement Editor / Chicago Magazine
- Sept 2009 - Oct 2011Marketing & Digital Specialist / Chicago MagazineManage social media accounts for all Chicago magazine brands; create and execute targeted social media campaigns; spearhead reader-engagement and research initiatives; lead public relations and promotional efforts for the magazine and website; conceptualize and implement integrated marketing programs for online advertisers; analyze website, e-newsletter, and social media metrics for business development opportunities; conduct social media workshops for Chicago Tribune Media Group employees; plan and execute special events; manage community sponsorship opportunities for Chicago Home + Garden; initiated a SEO strategy for Chicagomag.com and necessary staff training on SEO best practices.
Awards: 2010 Publisher's Award - Apr 2009 - Dec 2009Blogger / Shoetube.tvResearched and wrote stories on Chicago-area shoe trends and fashions.
- Mar 2009 - Sept 2009Editorial Assistant / Chicago Home + Garden MagazineFact checked all editorial content; conducted photo research; assisted with headline and caption writing; initiated and implemented a digital media strategy for Chicagohomemag.com; managed the brand's Facebook and Twitter accounts; served as a contributing writer and blogger; developed story ideas.
- Feb 2009 - May 2009Freelance Content Producer / MakeItBetter.netProduced and wrote for the site's dining database; assisted with editing and proofreading; shot photography; filmed and edited video; served as a contributing writer.
- Aug 2008 - Dec 2008Design Director/Staff Writer / Sci Q MagazineLed creation of design concept for a prototype magazine start up about science and culture as part of Master’s program at the Medill School of Journalism; managed a team of designers and designed covers, department and feature spreads, and promotional items for the magazine; participated in building a business and circulation plan, digital strategy and marketing plan; wrote department and feature pieces for the prototype magazine and website.
- Jan 2008 - Jun 2008Reporter / Medill News ServiceWrote daily news stories for medillnewsservice.com and regional clients, with a focus on urban issues, housing and social services in Chicago’s neighborhoods.
- Aug 2007 - Nov 2007Staff Intern/Volunteer / Makarios InternationalWorked with the organization’s staff to open a private school for underprivileged children in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.
- Sept 2004 - May 2006Student Associate / Accessibility Institute, University of Texas at AustinConducted user-testing for the university's websites to monitor accessibility and usability (Section 508 compliance); edited grant proposals and user-testing reports; published usability research in the academic journal Educause Quarterly.
- Jun 2005 - Jan 2006Editorial Assistant / Brilliant MagazineResearched and wrote articles for front of the book; assisted with editing, proofreading, and layout.
- Aug 2005 - Dec 2005Public Relations Intern / GENaustinWrote press releases and articles for the organization’s online newsletter; proofread and wrote grant proposals.
Education-
2008 - 2008Northwestern University
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2002 - 2006The University of Texas at Austin
Additional Information-
Websites:
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Honors:Chicago Magazine 2010 Publisher's Award, Madeline J. Halpern Scholarship (December 2008), University Honors (Spring 2004, Fall 2005)
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Posts
Inspired by @aranyatomseth, I decided to post some snowy pics of my own. (Taken with instagram)
Which companies are doing social media right?: Here’s our list of Chicago’s 10 most social companies, whose efforts on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other channels have changed the way they do business.
Photo: Rick Wion, director of social media at McDonald’s Corp., says the chain’s nearly 12 million Facebook fans “want entertainment.” Credit: Erik Unger
This is really misleading. It’s not a list of “Chicago’s 10 most social companies” it’s a list of Chicago’s 10 most social companies roughly based on a list of 25,000 of the country’s biggest brands. Look at the methodology listed in the piece:
“Using data and analysis provided by Austin, Texas-based Dachis Group’s Social Business Index, Crain’s ranked the 10 Chicago-area companies doing the best job of leveraging social media to reach customers and boost brand recognition.
Covering more than 25,000 companies, Dachis’ index uses natural language processing, semantic analysis, machine learning and cluster analysis to determine how effectively companies are maximizing their social efforts across a number of platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Dachis combined data from the index and Crain’s 2011 lists of Chicago’s largest public and privately held companies to score the top 10, as of Nov. 15.”
About the index: The Social Business Index is seeded with the Global 2000, the world’s most valuable brands, and the largest companies by advertising spending. Subsidiaries of companies are measured under the parent company.
Emphasis is mine.
So it’s a top 10 list based on another list of 25,000 national companies with some of Crain’s local data thrown in for some variety. But in both cases it’s only looking at the “largest” companies and in the case of the Social Business Index it’s basing the companies’ size on advertising spending.
No surprise that you end up with a list of big brands and very few smaller companies.
I’m not saying these companies aren’t engaging in smart social media practices. Just that other companies in Chicago might be “more social” than the ones on this list but the methodology meant they were out of the running.
God, do I love menacing kittens! Half Acre’s Big Hugs release party is tomorrow at 8 p.m. In honor of the fête, here’s my Q&A with the label’s designer, Phineas X. Jones.
- My Quest to Learn Python: Exercise 2
Exercise 2 of Learn Python the Hard Way complete!
Tools used: Terminal and gedit text editor (to create python file)
What I learned:
- In exercise 1, I typed “#” to ignore print string
- In exercise 2, I typed “#” to create comments (not for ignoring a print string)
- Octothorpes (aka pound signs) tell the terminal to ignore certain lines
- Place a pound symbol before any line and that line will not appear when the script is run
Refreshers:
- To run a python file/script, type: “python” “[file name]”
Visual:
.py file - example 2
terminal example
My first post since moving from marketing to the Web team. From the Pruitt-Igoe housing complex to Stanley Tigerman’s The Titanic, a brief look at postmodernism’s influence on the Midwest.
- My Quest to Learn Python: Exercise 1
Exercise 1 of Learn Python the Hard Way complete!
Tools used: Terminal and gedit text editor (to create python file)
What I learned:
- Python files end in .py
- To run a python script, type: “python” “[file name]”
- In python, there are data types called “strings”
- One of which can be a “print string”
- To create a print string, you must type “print” before the characters that follow
- This line must be enclosed with quotes, either “” or ” (haven’t figured out the differences between the two yet, if any)
- To make your script only print one line of the python file, type “#” before “print” on the lines you want the Terminal to pass over
- This “#” symbol is also called an octothorpe
Visual:
.py file - example 1
.py file - example 2 (w/octothorpe)
terminal example
- My Quest to Learn Python: Exercise 0
Follow me along my journey as I attempt Zed A. Shaw’s Learn Python the Hard Way. I’ll be blogging each exercise here to help me retain what I’ve learned. Here it goes…
Exercise 0 complete!
Tools used: Terminal and gedit text editor
What I learned:
- To make a directory (fancy word for folder), type the following: “mkdir” “[name of the directory you want to create]”
- To change directories, type the following: “cd” “[name of directory you want to be in]”
- To list all the files within a directory, type the following: “ls”
Visual:
terminal example
- I haz a new job! Well, sort of...
I’m not leaving Chicago magazine, but I’ve taken on the newly created position of Digital Engagement Editor, working for @ourmaninchicago.
Per Scott:
Her responsibilities will be tied to our editorial and audience development needs in the digital space…. Many of the tasks and projects Elizabeth worked on in her previous position will be expanded in this one: She will be the full-time manager of our conversation in social media (Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare), look for opportunities to expand into new platforms and develop new research on how our audiences use our current digital channels. She’ll also do more outreach to blogs and other online publications and work with Esther [Chicagomag.com editor] to create new site content that complements the magazine and reflects the digital conversation happening throughout Chicago.
I’m particularly excited about forging new content relationships with other publications throughout Chicago and beyond. If that’s you, please send me an email at enriley@chicagomag.com. Would love to chat.
I read Matthew Ingram’s GigaOM piece from yesterday on the train this morning and was left with a few contrasting thoughts:
Sure, media companies shouldn’t hold up Facebook apps as the be-all, end-all. But accusing the The Washington Post and The Guardian of “putting so many eggs into a basket” is off base. They tried something new and that’s awesome. That doesn’t mean they’re pinning their future entirely on Facebook. Experimentation is innovation.
Igram even said it himself:And Washington Post publisher Graham is quite right that reaching out to readers wherever they are and trying to engage them around your content is a good idea. Experimentation is also a good idea, especially for newspapers — which aren’t typically known for that kind of thing.
Ingram continues:
But if all you are doing is creating widgets for people who live inside a specific walled garden, then I think you are missing the boat.
I see his point, but who ever said this was the only thing The Washington Post and The Guardian were doing?
Not Igram. In the same article where he bitches about The Gaurdian’s Facebook app, Ingram goes on to say:
But The Guardian has taken by far the most dramatic steps of any newspaper in rethinking what its business consists of, with what the paper called its “open platform” project, which launched last year. Instead of spending all its time trying to put walls or sandbags around its content and control where it appeared, the Guardian released an open API that allowed outside developers to make use of its content — provided they agreed to either pay for the data, or form an advertising partnership with the paper. Instead of doing a deal just with one platform vendor like Facebook, they made it possible for anyone to become a partner.
Why can’t we appreciate the idea for what it was, an experiment, while recognizing that further analysis should be done down the line to assess long-term success. It’s only been a week, after all.
This is brilliant. Thank you, Jessica :)
- I JUST WENT ON AN AWESOME DATE, OH YEAH.
- Man, it feels weird to sleep alone all of a sudden.
- Stop it, dude, it was one date. Remember to keep your cool.
- Nope, still hasn’t texted. It’s OK, I’m sure he’s just busy.
- Oh! I should tell him about this one thing I learned about after he left…
Suddenly he practically leaps out of his seat. From his window, he notices that we are approaching a private road that runs through a tunnel at McCormick Place—a route that the mayor’s security detail sometimes uses as a shortcut to the Loop. “All right!” Emanuel calls out excitedly as we enter the tunnel. “I’m like Batman! I’m going down the Bat Cave! The Bat Road!” He turns to Chris Mather, his communications director, seated next to him, and cracks, “We’re going to rename it. I want a sign made—‘Bat Road.’” “We got rid of those,” Mather replies, in the obliging straight-woman role. (A couple of weeks earlier, Emanuel had put an end to displaying the mayor’s name on city signs, a practice, he explained, that wasn’t worth the cost, given the city’s financial woes.) “Are you kidding? I can donate a sign,” says Emanuel, who likes to have the last word. We pull up to a gate at the tunnel’s entrance. “Music louder!” Emanuel calls out to his driver. “This is the Bat Road!
Can Rahm Emanuel Fix Chicago’s Problems? - Chicago magazine
So which one of you is going to be the first to make the Rahm-as-Batman meme?
(via ourmaninchicago)
Here’s a post I conjured up for Social Media Week Chicago. How to like-gate your fan page without looking like an e-marketing asshole.
Ballistics evidence used to convict Davis has since been debunked. Another witness has since emerged as a plausible suspect in the murder. Three jurors on the case now say that if they knew then what they know now, they would not have voted to convict. Davis was quite possibly innocent, but that was hardly the point. As expressed by the popular Twitter hash-tag, the problem was quite simply that there was #TooMuchDoubt.
The state of Georgia executed Troy Davis at 11:08 p.m. A few quick thoughts on how it happened, why it matters, and where we go from here. (via motherjones)- John Lavine Stepping Down as Dean of Medill
His letter to Medill alums this morning at 9:05 a.m.
Dear Colleagues and Members of the Medill Community,
Six years ago, President Bienen and Provost Dumas asked if I would lead the implementation of a new strategy for Medill. In the years that followed, we have joined together to deepen the quality of our curricula, provide our students with the best educational opportunities in the country and strengthen and diversify our offerings and resources.
Now, I’m writing to tell you that I have shared with President Schapiro and Provost Linzer my decision to step down as Medill’s Dean on August 31, 2012. I do so knowing we have a faculty, staff and curricula no other school can match.
When I became dean, journalism and marketing communications were being roiled by a digital tsunami, and soon thereafter, by one of the worst economic downturns in a century. In the midst of these difficult circumstances, we adopted unprecedented curricular change. Northwestern supported our plan with the addition of more faculty and staff with new skills, knowledge, and experience than at any time in Medill’s history.
It has been quite an odyssey. Together we’ve accomplished far more than was envisioned in our Medill 2020 plan. Along the way, we’ve faced and overcome major challenges, as well as some controversies; when you undertake seismic change, both are inevitable.
What counts is the progress we’ve made, the foundation for the future that we’ve built, and the validation of what we’ve done from external sources — including leaders of the industries we serve and the unprecedented evaluation last spring from the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. Our faculty and curricula lead the country. Despite the tough economy, employers here and abroad seek out our graduates, and Northwestern University Qatar, our undergraduate school in Doha, is about to graduate its first class.
You are terrific colleagues. I treasure the opportunity to have worked with you, and I’m excited about completing the big projects we have before us this coming year.
When I step down, I will focus on an initiative that is also close to my heart — examining how the media can determine if people are truly informed by the content they provide, and seeking out new ways for the news media to remain viable. I’ll have more to share about this work in the future.
I will also spend more time with my wonderful wife, Meryl. As busy as we’ve both been in our careers – and as much as she has been central to all that I’ve done in my professional life – now, more than ever, we cherish having more personal time together.
Warm regards,
John The conventional view is that cities initially grew up naturally around ports or at the nexuses of trade routes. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, cities brought together resources, great companies, and large labor forces. Cities have always been important engines of economic growth, but they are assuming an even more critical importance in today’s knowledge-driven innovation economy, in which place-based ecosystems are more important to economic growth than large corporations. The Harvard Business School’s Michael Porter recently told the Clinton Global Initiative that “there is no one U.S. economy but a collection of local economies.” Ensuring that our cities don’t just permit but encourage the sorts of jostling interactions that are the basis of growth is one of the most important challenges our economy faces.
“Rise of the Social City” via @AtlanticCITIESLast Friday Forbes reported that AOL’s Huffington Post Media Group is launching HuffPost High School, a vertical aimed at the teen set.
The site will be edited by a paid 17-year-old but like much of the Huffington Post, content will be produced for free. In this case by unpaid teenage bloggers.
Running with the strategy, AOL will also solicit unpaid contributions from young teens and high schoolers for Patch, its network of 800 hyperlocal news sites.
“We’ll be expanding our sharing platform to teens,” an AOL spokeswoman explains to Forbes using the company’s social vernacular.
Over at AdAge, Simon Dumenco is none too pleased:
Let’s get real here: AOL is not just another benign outlet for aspiring teen writers; it’s not the school newspaper writ large. It is, thanks to its combo with HuffPo, a massive, highly aggressive, cynically SEO’d page-view machine with a history of dubious ethics — and let’s not forget that AOL, despite all its troubles, still had second-quarter revenue of $542.2 million.
Back in February, AOL property TechCrunch reported that Patch “is churning out one piece of content every 9 seconds.” That’s what this is about, folks: churn. Page views. And getting unpaid children to help AOL shovel content — digital coal — into its page-view oven.
Quite simply, AOL/HuffPo intends to monetize the work of minors earning $0/hour. On Patch and HuffPost High School, it will sell ads against content created by minors — but it will not share advertising revenue with those minors.
Self-respecting advertisers have to ask if they really want to be a part of something like this.
Meanwhile, a $105 million class action lawsuit by former unpaid Huffington Post writers continues. So too a Newspaper Guild call for writers to boycott the publication.
HuffPo has long defended its practice of using unpaid contributors by arguing that consenting adults can share their labor in any way they please. True enough, but what happens when your writers aren’t old enough to legally consent?
Writes Jeff Berkovici:
Should teenagers who can’t legally vote, drink or have sex be allowed to decide for themselves what to publish in a place where it could potentially be read by millions of people? What if a 15-year-old wants to write confessionally about having an abortion, as this adult writer did, or joke about smoking marijuana, as this writer did? And what if that 15-year-old’s parent wants to have that posting deleted? And what if that parent is divorced, and his ex-spouse who shares custody gives her permission?
Cornhole, a simple yet addictive pastime with Midwestern origins, is sweeping the Northeast. This summer — from the Jersey Shore to Brooklyn, and from the Hamptons to the Catskills —the satisfying thump of weighted sacks hitting plywood reverberated across New York area beaches, lawns, rooftops and city sidewalks.
“Just Tossing Around the Old Bag of Corn” by the New York Times
- Louder Than a Bomb at the @MayorEmanuel Book Launch Party
Louder Than a Bomb also rocked it at Dan Sinker’s @MayorEmanuel book launch party at Hideout Chicago—albeit in a completely different way than Jeff Tweedy. It was amazing to watch these articulate, beautiful teens communicate. Totally inspiring. Video number three below will send chills down your spine. Some powerful young ladies.
Recordings from my iPhone below:
- Jeff Tweedy Awesomeness at the @MayorEmanuel Launch Party
If you couldn’t make it to Dan Sinker’s @MayorEmanuel book launch party, here’s the awesomeness that occurred. Jeff Tweedy performing Black Eyed Peas songs—glorious.
Recordings from my iPhone below:
I Gotta Feeling
Rock that Body
My Humps
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Photos
