Sonya Sorich ’04 delves into social journalism

A career in social media is exciting when one can experiment with new social networks that are constantly surfacing. Sonya Sorich ’04 of Sacramento, Calif., does just that as the social media manager and staff writer for the Sacramento Business Journal.

“Working in social media seemed like a natural progression since I’ve always enjoyed finding story sources through social networks, as opposed to the traditional ‘man on the street’ approach,” Sorich says.

While working for newspapers in California and Georgia, Sorich noticed the Internet’s effect on journalism and new positions created in an effort to secure a digital audience. Soon, she was part of that progression.

“I’m interested to see what happens to the social media manager role in the future,” Sorich says. “The position has been met with some level of cynicism. The argument: ‘Everybody uses social media. What makes you so special?’ However, it’s important to remember that representing a brand on Facebook is different from maintaining a personal Facebook account.”

She adds, “It’s easy to underestimate the time commitment that a social media manager role requires. You get to spend a lot of time on social networks, but that freedom also comes with a responsibility to post frequent updates amid a breaking news situation or when your brand encounters a crisis. Sometimes, that happens on a Saturday. In our mobile culture, social media managers can’t simply ‘turn off’ when they’re responsible for interacting with an online audience.”

Posted June 1, 2014 in Alumni.

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