St. Louis Post-Dispatch seeks social media intern

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is looking for an intern, but not just any intern. The position announcement calls for a "social media intern."

Kurt Greenbaum, director of social media at the Post-Dispatch, posted the position on his blog Wednesday, noting that the intern will work with the online team to use "social media to publish content, engage our audience and encourage reader-generated news, photos, videos and more."

"This person," Greenbaum writes, "will help update, promote and publicize our fledgling social networking site, MySTLtoday; help develop and participate in blogs; increase our profile on external social networks such as Digg, Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, YouTube and more; help integrate reader-generated content into our primary site, STLtoday.com; and help develop training for newsroom colleagues on the power and function of social media."

The 13-week spring internship will run from late February to mid-May. The news organization is seeking applicants in their junior year of college or higher.

Qualifications?

"To apply, you’ll need to demonstrate first that you’re a solid journalist, with good writing skills and sound news judgment. Second, show us you’re engaged in social networks. Do you blog? Twitter? Post YouTube videos? Other sites? How have you used your presence in social networks to advance your life — personally or professionally?"

Submit a resume, a portfolio of your journalism and a 500-word essay describing why social media is a vital tool for journalists and ways they should embrace it. Applications must be postmarked by Dec. 12; send it to Kurt Greenbaum, c/o St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 900 N. Tucker Blvd., St. Louis, Mo., 63101 or email it to Greenbaum at kgreenbaum@post-dispatch.com.

Frankly, if I was 20-something and wanted to work in journalism this century, I'd grab at this opportunity. It sounds like a great chance to not only learn some cutting-edge tools but to contribute to a newsroom that's looking for new ideas. This sounds like the kind of internship a sharp, media-savvy student could parley into a full-time job, either at the Post-Dispatch or elsewhere.