Hi, I'm Patrick Thornton

I love technology, the Internet, media, journalism and information. I'm fascinated by the intersection of them.

I consider myself a communicator, journalist and technologist. Ever since I was a kid, I was fascinated by computers and especially by the power of the Internet to connect people with each other and information. I'm more than just a geek -- I'm a writer, researcher and journalist. I believe that technology is at its best when it is intersected with the liberal arts and humanities, making technology more human, usable and enjoyable.

As you can see from the thank-you cake I received on the right, I'm experienced with social media. I've managed social media campaigns for several organizations and have done extensive research on best practices and how people and organizations are using social media. I'm the senior social media specialist for Society for Science & the Public, which includes managing social media for the Society's two publications, Science News and Science News for Kids. I focus on expanding engagement with fans, focusing more on getting fans/followers more active and less on raw fan/followers totals. A fan/follower isn't very valuable if they never view your content.

I was the community and social media manager for Rare, an international conservation organization. I maintained and edited Rare's blog, Adventures in Conservation, lead social media efforts and produced most of the organization's online content. Working with an international organization taught me the necessity of having different strategies for different regions of the world.

I started the Interchange Project as a way to analyze and report on the intersection of technology and the liberal arts. That's where you'll find most of my writing. The Interchange Project also has a weekly podcast that I cohost with journalism professor Jeremy Littau. I occasionally update my personal blog, but after years of writing and some success with it, it's in semi-retirement with a more generic name.

I ran New York University's grant-funded journalism project BeatBlogging.org. The project studied how journalists used social media and other Web tools to improve beat reporting. I write articles for the journalism think tank Poynter.org on online journalism, social media and how computers are changing journalism. In addition to heading up the editorial side of BeatBlogging.org, I managed the server and wrote HTML and CSS for the project.

I was a Web content manager for Stars and Stripes, a daily newspaper. I built special features using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. I also produced written and multimedia content.

You can find my full work history in my résumé and portfolio. You can email me at patrickwthornton [at] gmail [dot] com.

Thanks for stopping by.

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