Should Al get his resume ready?

[Ghoulish Delight]

http://jobsearch.disneycareers.newjo...4&sort=dt&vw=b

The Manager, Photography/Online will lead the team in creating breakthrough multi-media assets to excite newsrooms to produce creative, positive news stories about the Disneyland Resort; work with online fan sites to generate a third-party advocacy group; and work with photo editors to place Disneyland photos in key entertainment and news publications.

The Manager, Photography/Online will also manage the rebuild and relaunch of dlrnews.com – the DLR professional news-media only web site and work with relevant Disney Fan web sites to generate online buzz and build third-person alliances in the online world.

Wow. This will be a VERY interesting development. Looks like they are finally acknowledging the impact the internet community has and want to start being proactive about getting their message out there (here?) instead of people digging for stuff. It will be fascinating to see how the various sites incorporate this new direction.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Yow! Who's applying? What a coup that would be, if it were someone we knew.

[scaeagles]

Very interesting.

This, however, will not stop people from digging for stuff, because it is a Disney site and it will only serve as another media outlet for what they want released. There won't be info that gets posted by the insiders, which I would figure is what Disney fans want. I read stuff like miceage because it tells me stuff that Disney isn't publicizing.

The impact I see it having is taking away people from joining and frequenting existing such as this one or mouseplanet. They will do their internet searches, find an actaul Disney site, and most likely opt to ge there.

[Ghoulish Delight]

But notice that it's not just setting up their own site, but interfacing with existing sites. I suspect at least a couple of the sites will happily take the material this new department generates, namely ones that are trying to cater more to tourists than fanatics. It will lend them credibility from the perspective of the casual tourist if they have official Disney material published on their site.

Of course, not all the sites will want to play their game (thus my ironic thread title). However I think what they're hoping is to buffer the casual community from, well, us. The more Disney is out there actively communicating with their customers, the less apt they are to dig deeper. I suspect what we'll see from Disney is some incremental increase in the amount of detail they are willing to release publically, which should satisfy MOST people. Sure, it's not going to completely stop the rumor mill, but it could definitely contain it.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Oh, and now I realize my thread title probably doesn't sound like what I meant. I meant to imply, "should Al apply for this position," not, "Will this force Al out of work."

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

Yow! Who's applying? What a coup that would be, if it were someone we knew.

Pretty unilkely it will be anyone we know. They aren't looking from within the internet community. The qualifications are for a very experienced media person (communications degree, PR experience, newsroom experience). Of course, this manager will probably have a team associated with them, and considering the responsibilities it would probably make sense to look within the community at that point.

[CoasterMatt]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

The qualifications are for a very experienced media person (communications degree, PR experience, newsroom experience).

I've got two of those three

[Not Afraid]

I know that the reading of internet Disney boards was already being done by the company, but it is interesting that they have expanded that position into a formal managerial structure. They obviously desire more control over what is being said about the company. It will be interesting to see what kind of impact the manager has on the rumor mill - especially when there are tragedies such as the BTMRR crash.

[€uroMeinke]

Well, now that they disbanded the Disney magazine perhaps they have some inhouse talent that could create an online version. The proliferation of Disneyboards clearly indicate that there are opportunities for Disney here - as long as the keep out of the board politics (Marcie anyone?). I'll be curious to see how it works out, there's a lot of possibility if they have the right person in charge - but if they have to go get approval for every move or statement, they'll have a hard time gaining credibility.

[Ponine]

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

Well, now that they disbanded the Disney magazine perhaps they have some inhouse talent that could create an online version.

Wait wait... they did what? Why did I not know this?