When you get an opportunity to tour the newest location for one of the most reputable daily newspapers around, you just go.
As you may or may not know, The Washington Post was sold to Jeff Bezos, the founder of the Amazon.com, in 2013. With the sell, it was time for a huge renovation. So the Post moved its offices to their new home at One Franklin Square.
However, there was one big item the Post just couldn't leave behind: the sign (seen below in the group photo). It's been hanging up in the old building for 43 years! Of course it had to find a new home in the new building. It can be seen propped up on the wall of the 4th Floor lobby.
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| Front page headlines throughout their 139 years. |
My favorite stop on the tour, besides hanging out on the rooftop terrace and checking out one of their two penthouses (look at those views!), was seeing where all of the action takes place, The Hub. There we saw the live studios, the Ben Bradlee conference room, and pretty much the staff deep into their work. They push out 600+ pieces of content each day! In fact, I felt like an intruder. I'm sure they're used to strangers stopping by as part of the tour but still. Another interesting feature was the real-time analytics board. Talk about pressure! Looking up ever so often to see how a story is doing in real time. I'm talking about seeing how many users are on the website at.any.given.time. And even seeing the numbers from their social media platforms, too. Imagine the jubilation when a story goes through the roof. Now imagine the air sucking out of the room when a story flops. These were the thoughts racing through my head as I looked up at the analytics board. Unfortunately, photos are not allowed at The Hub.
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| Dress: Eloquii (similar options) |
My friend and social media consultant, Ijeoma, organized the tour. She reached out to some of her friends to see who was interested and, duh, I was. So thank you, Ijeoma! Also a special shoutout goes to Austin, our tour guide. He made the experience a fun one.
