NYT names first new media editor

The New York Times has named its first Social Media Editor.
Jennifer Preston, a journalist, author and adjunct professor at Columbia University, has been appointed to the job, according to reports from the technology news blog ReadWriteRead.
From the story:

Social media at newspapers doesn't have to be about promotion or damage control, it's also a real resource. "One thing I want to encourage more is writers responding to comments and using comments as a resource," Ingram says. "That's commenting 2.0, I think...One of the biggest things we need to do is identify and encourage members of the community who are thoughtful, intelligent, and produce comments of value -- encouraging them to contribute more, elevating what they do and suppressing some of the noise."