Twitter

Laid-off journalists, rejoice. A new job has been posted, and the pay is good. Spectacular even, at $73,000 to $110,000 a year, all for writing blogs, tweets, and Facebook updates.

The DC Metro system is, according to the Washington Post's job listings, in the market for a social media manager. Yes, you would be handling the "day-to-day management of WMATA's social media activities, including: social media monitoring and analysis; detractor response; comment moderation; Facebook facilitation; content development and publishing; editorial calendar management, execution, and maintenance; and measuring results against defined metrics."

Although when you imagine the comments that WMATA would have to moderate, might $100,000 seem too low a salary?

The position's lengthy description asks for a "season journalist [sic]" of seven years' experience, someone who's capable of developing an over-arching media strategy and who "acts as a liaison with both internal
and external entities"

WMATA's staff joined Twitter early, all the way back in March of 2009, according to information specialist Cathy Asato, and the tweets are currently handled by the Office of Media Relations staff, which consists of five people. The Twitter account follows no people but has more than 10,000 followers and has tweeted more than 11,000 times. Not bad, but a social media guru could likely liven the feed up.

A social media manager would, no doubt, spice up Metro's engagement significantly, but how much is the position really worth?

The salary seems high but perhaps less so when considering the amount of flack that a Metro social media manager would have to deal with: dozens of @ replies daily, perhaps, people crying out against Metro delays, escalator shutdowns, sweaty cars of people packed to the brim. How could any social media manager endure the constant barrage of commuter complaints, realistically? The job of Metro spokesman already strikes me as a terrific challenge, but this? Responding in real-time over and over? It's unthinkable and may be worth millions.

But what do you think the most difficult job in social media should pay? And in the end, is good tweeting ever worth $100,000?