I am a digital storyteller and public content manager at Facebook where I lead a team focused on product development and strategic partnerships to improve content on the platform. Previously, I led Facebook’s journalism program and partnership efforts with the journalism community while also teaching social media as an adjunct professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Prior to Facebook, I worked as the Community Manager and Social Media Strategist at Mashable.com where I worked on building its online and social community, as well as social-related integrations on Mashable.com I also covered trends in the media industry. Before Mashable, I worked on social media at The New York Times. I have a Master of Science degree in Digital Media from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City where I produced NYC 3.0, a website that included an in-depth documentary on New York City’s tech startup community. Prior to Columbia, I studied at the University of Minnesota where I received a B.A. in Journalism, summa cum laude, in 2009. While at the University of Minnesota, I worked as a reporter, managing editor and editor-in-chief for four years at The Minnesota Daily, the fourth largest newspaper in Minnesota. There I worked to re-design Mndaily.com, increased Web production and directed new Web enterprises, including: blogs, multimedia, forums, Campus Tweets, the Daily Facebook application, Twitter account and more.

I have also written for PBS NewsHour, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, the Star Tribune, Poynter.org, Mashable.com and more. My interests are in digital media and how to best utilize social media to reach audiences. I am an ideas person and am passionate about the future of storytelling online.

In the News

*CNN -“Facebook trying to “friend” journalists”
*Poynter - “Your Picks & Ours for 35 Influential People in Social Media”
*Artful Living Magazine - “Virtual Virtuoso”
*CNN - “Foursquare takes lead in where-am-I apps”
*Austin American-Statesman - “Social Media Awards winner Williams hopes Gowalla gets people exploring”
*Mediabistro - “On The Menu: Digital Journalism And Going To J-School”
*Poynter Online - “Experimental Facebook use rewards news readers”
*Mpls.-St. Paul Magazine - “Meet the New Press”
*The Huffington Post - “A Minnesota College Newspaper Editor on Israel-Hamas Conflict”
*USA Today - “Reporting on Middle East”
*Knight Foundation - “U of M researchers using Facebook application to engage youth in news”
*Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages - “An interesting experiment by The Minnesota Daily student newspaper”
*Knight Digital Media Center: News Leadership 3.0 - “Facebook: Engaging young people in news”
*Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages - “Minn. Daily editor writes firsthand account of life in Israel during attacks”