The Post: Online Editor, Belfast Telegraph, Independent News and Media (NI)

The Postholder: Jerome Crolly

What does your job entail?

I’m responsible for shaping editorial content on the Belfast Telegraph’s new website.

This involves ensuring our key platforms — news, sport, business, lifestyle, opinion and entertainment — meet and indeed exceed the expectations and requirements of our audience. A visit to the site should leave them feeling informed, entertained and challenged.

How did you get into this line of work?

I have always tried to stay ahead of the game in terms of technological developments in delivering editorial content to new audiences. The move to the Belfast Telegraph’s digital platform was a natural progression after seven years in the print media.

Did you always want to work in your chosen profession?

My interest in journalism took root while I was at university. After graduating I had a very brief spell as a trainee accountant. Three days to be exact but long enough to convince me to follow my instincts and pursue a career in the media.

What was your first job?

I didn’t have much luck with my first few jobs: petrol pump attendant in Downpatrick — robbed on my first night: pea factory operative in England during the summer holidays — this involved standing at a conveyor for around 12 hours picking out anything that wasn’t a pea. I was moved to a lower status job for failing to spot a rodent body part on its way to the canning line.

After that it was a tough apprenticeship in journalism via the News Letter and the Sunday News en route to the Belfast Telegraph.

Tell us about your qualifications

I have a degree in Spanish and a postgraduate diploma in computer science.

Although the IT background has proved very beneficial — my ability to recite tracts of Golden Age Castillian poetry continues to be ignored by the brains behind Independent News & Media’s global business strategy.

Still, one day they will come to their senses and realise that what the Belfast Telegraph really needs is a Barcelona office — and whose door do you think they will be knocking on then? Hmmm!

Detail any recent projects that are reflective of your job and your industry

For the past two months I have been focusing on the content of our new website. Belfast Telegraph online has always brought its audience first-class content from our print edition and sister titles in London and Dublin — the new site will enable us to bring even more content online.

There is a completely new look and feel to the site. Now it's even easier to find whatever you're looking for. Whether it's the latest news from Northern Ireland and abroad or the lowdown on local business — every area of the site is clearly linked and easily accessible.

In addition to the editorial content, the site provides a one-stop shop for those life-changing decisions — that new job (loadzajobs), a new house (Propertynews) and your next car (niCarfinder).

There will be more from the Telegraph’s favourite writers — Steve Beacom, David Gordon, Chris Thornton and Gail Walker — to name but a few.

Keep an eye on TeleBlogs — our online debating chamber where our diverse stable of columnists and commentators come together to discuss the issues of the day and invite you to join in. You can post your comments on daily news stories as well as challenge the views and analysis expressed on the site.

The new audience experience also includes caption competitions and online polls.

What should we poll?

Well, we’ll be asking the users to help us decide — so feel free to submit your suggestions to digital.editorial@belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Users can also sign up for the Belfast Telegraph’s free daily newsletter email service which provides links to the big breaking news, sport and business stories of the day.

Have you any plans for video and picture content?

Our picture gallery coverage has been expanded to include more community-based events as well as hundreds of images from the top clubs and entertainment venues around Northern Ireland. If you don’t like what you see why not send us your own images?

New to the site is a permanent collection of pictures taken during the Troubles. This gallery will grow week by week — and once again our audience is invited to submit their own images.

In early August, we plan to extend our video coverage to include exclusive video and audio feeds from the top Premiership press conferences — watch Ferguson and Benitez go head to head with the media. We will be covering United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Everton and Sunderland .

BTTV continues to provide a big stage for the little voice. Our roving video journalist Gary Grattan will drill down to the heart of local stories.

The Belfast Telegraph’s TV news bulletins — updated throughout the day — will cover the big breaking stories.

Is there anything else we should look out for?

Our enhanced business coverage includes Business Clinic, where your questions are answered by our panel of experts, and the Business Events Planner, which provides a database of essential dates for your business calendar.

Unlike other sites, our search index is updated throughout the day — soon capturing even the newest articles for inclusion in deep searches.

What do you do in your spare time?

Search for a babysitter, hillwalking (it’s been two years but it was a great day out so I still count it as a hobby), dishes, nappies, red wine, play with my children, watch football, cooking, cycling, play with my wife, read four pages of a book and fall asleep.

What do you like about your job?

The interactive aspect of digital journalism is remarkable. Whereas print media is limited in this respect to letters, texts, emails and the phone calls, the Belfast Telegraph, via its digital platform, can now put audience reaction centre stage.

Our user response is instantaneous. You can comment on columns and news stories, contribute to blogs and even post your own reviews on everything from CD and DVD releases to movies, concerts and restaurants.

Online I can monitor the level of interest in each story and replace it or upgrade it depending on the number of hits it is getting.

This is a very powerful mechanism. It allows me to identify which stories and issues the users are targeting and respond immediately.

Tell us something interesting about yourself?

Sometimes, when my two-year-old daughter starts crying at three o’clock in the morning and my wife asks me to see what’s up I start snoring even though my eyes are wide open.

What personality traits do you dislike in other people?

The inability to hold a conversation devoid of buzzwords and corporate speak, a belief in style over substance, and an obsession with house prices.

Individuals who harp on about their kids in the misguided belief that they are of interest to people outside their own gene pool.

What personality traits do you dislike in yourself?

See above.