I’m Tim Mulkerin, Social Media Editor for Lifehacker, and This Is How I Work

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Every week, we share shortcuts, workspaces, and productivity tips from our favorite experts. This week we take a look behind the scenes at Lifehacker. I’m Tim Mulkerin, and this is how I work.

Location : New York, NY Current job : Social media editor, Lifehacker Current computer : MacBook Pro Current mobile device : iPhone XS. One word that best describes the way you work : Sponge-ily

First of all, tell us a little about your past and how you got where you are now .

I started working in the media a couple of years after college. I studied art history and was about to go to graduate school to study museums, but quickly realized how badly I burned out in school. I was ready to go. So I started writing for a few small sites and then eventually got an internship as a writer with Business Insider. After that, I landed a full-time job as a full-time writer and then social media editor at Mic. (May she rest in peace.)

Aside from the fun: After my last day at Mic – the place where I left to join Lifehacker – several colleagues joined me for a goodbye drink at a bar next to the office. While we were there, news broke that Bustle was buying Mic , and the tone in the room changed, shall we say, dramatically . Less than 24 hours later, everyone (probably very hungover, like me) people who came to my farewell drinks were fired. Media colleagues (and everyone else): Unite your fucking workplace.

What are your job responsibilities?

I manage the daily posts on Twitter , Facebook ,Instagram and YouTube for Lifehacker. (Like and subscribe!) This includes writing generic post text, reformatting images if necessary, doing a little image editing in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, creating silly memes, and generally acting like a dumbass online . Hopefully cute.

I process most of our posts with SocialFlow , which allows me to post to multiple accounts through a single portal and quickly understand how our traffic is doing that day compared to others. I am also editing the layout of our daily newsletter and submitting Lifehacker articles to third-party syndicators as a way to drive traffic and reach new readers. When I have time, I use my past Starbucks barista for clicks and organize Q&A with experts working on the topics Lifehacker covers.

How is your workplace arranged?

I have an adjustable standing desk with two monitors. I spend most of the time sitting, but after lunch I tend to squirm and get up a bit. My MacBook Pro is on my right, and my second monitor is on my left. Between my monitors, I have my most precious possession: a tiny rug I bought from the Met gift shop. Technically a mouse pad, but it sucks like a mouse pad. I use it as a drink holder. The only photo I have on my desk is a boudoir shot of Vinnie, my best friend’s dog, who is also my goddaughter.

Tell us about a recent work day.

I usually arrive at the office between 9 and 9:30 am, depending on the mood on the subway that day. There will probably be at least one story on the site by then, so I’ll quickly schedule a tweet and post for it on Facebook as soon as I sign in. (If I’m running late, I can do it from my phone on the subway, or when I dodge tourists from Times Square and people dressed as Megatron.)

As soon as I sit at my desk with a strong iced tea, I spend part of the morning checking emails, checking our Twitter mentions and moderating Facebook comments overnight to make sure nothing terrible has happened that needs to be dealt with. Banning someone on our Facebook page for saying something wildly fanatical or offending other readers is something that happens with depressing frequency.

By about 10 years old, I can immerse myself in the essence of my work: promote the work of Lifehacker on various social networks. For every story on the site, I post two tweets (one when the story goes live and the other later that night), usually a Facebook post and, less commonly, an Instagram annotation. We publish about 20 stories a day, so I’m very busy. I have to read every story before promoting it because there is often an interesting snippet or quote in a story that doesn’t make it into the title on the page, but makes the perfect little teaser for a tweet or Facebook caption.

If our video team publishes something on the site that day, I will spend a little time packing it for our social channel. Otherwise, during the downtime between scheduling posts for Twitter and Facebook, I may be working on various long-term and less important projects. I’ll check my Instagram plan for the week and see if I need to create an image for that. In addition, all G / O Media sites can share each other’s articles on social media, so we and other social media editors throughout the day post links in the Slack channel with stories that we think fit together.

At 12 years old, I check our daily Lifehacker newsletter and make sure that all stories that have been automatically extracted make sense for this format. A post that was chosen as the lead plot using the magic of the algorithm is not always a great choice, so I’ll come in and replace it with something stronger and more branded. This is all a relatively new process for the social team, so I’m happy to experiment – and eventually I will A / B test several different components to refine the format and see what our audience likes.

Lifehacker usually publishes its last story at 5:30 or 6, so I try to get out of the office a little after 5 and schedule the last post of the day from my phone while I’m at the gym or on my way home. Nothing frustrates me more than coming home late at night after sunset, so if I can get to the office early and leave a little early and work remotely, I’m a happy boy.

Of course, I have pre-scheduled tweets and Facebook posts that appear long after I leave the office, so I usually check our comments and Twitter mentions a couple of times throughout the evening to make sure I haven’t posted. the wrong link in the tweet. or make a typo. If you screwed up, readers will let you know. Believe me.

What apps, gadgets or tools can’t you live without?

What’s your favorite shortcut or hack?

Probably too easy, but AirDrop changed my damn life.

Tell us about an interesting, unusual, or challenging process you have at work.

The typical format we use for a tweet includes generic text, a shortened link, and a header image. To post this image to Twitter, I need to save it to my desktop from the article, resize it to SocialFlow’s liking, and then drag it to SocialFlow. That means I have millions of stock photos on my desktop with titles like soup, kids, vivaldi, freebie, butt, and pickles. (These names are much easier for me to find than the words our site uses as the default filename.) I hate clutter, so deleting them all in droves (20 articles per day = about 100 images per week) is such a great feeling.

How do you keep track of what you need to do?

We have a bot that posts every story we post to a dedicated Slack channel. When I scheduled the post on social media, I noticed that I did so by “reacting” to the post with a “blond boy sitting at a laptop” emoticon . A very complex system.

I also use Slackbot’s reminder system – you just type “remind me [any task] at [any time]” – every day. Remind me to post the interview video on Wednesday at 10 am. Something like that. And of course, I usually have a few sun damage reminder stickers attached to the bottom of my computer screen.

How to recharge or relax?

I love looking out the giant window at my desk and watching people walk down the sidewalk. If it’s okay, I’ll go for a walk around the block or buy something carbon fiber from a cafe. If it’s bad outside, I’ll watch theVine collection or this video of people singing Robin on the subway platform.

What are you reading now or what do you recommend?

I am currently reading Casey McKeston’s Red White and Royal Blue . Here are some of my favorite books I’ve read in the last year or so:

Can you share the music playlist you’ve created for work or somewhere else?

I’ve never been good at making my own playlists, so I usually rely on friends and pre-made Spotify playlists, like this:

Who else would you like to see to answer these questions?

John Mulani. Ali Wong.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

You don’t work for the CIA. You are, first of all, a person, and secondly, an employee.

What problem are you still trying to solve?

How to convince Mark Zuckerberg to give me a billion doll hair.

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