Joanna Geary

Joanna Geary will work to develop the Guardian team's digital skills as it adopts a digital-first strategy

Credit: By John Thompson. All rights reserved.

Communities editor for the Times Joanna Geary has announced that she has been appointed as digital development editor for the Guardian.

Geary will leave the Times next month to take up the Guardian post in November, where she will be working to develop the team's digital skills as it adopts a digital-first strategy.

In a blog post announcing her move she added that her role will also include looking at new ways to deliver stories and digital working methods.

"Over the past few years I’ve been fortunate to have worked in the team at the centre of The Times’ move to a digital subscription model.

"Developing the social and engagement strategy for the site has given me the opportunity to think about (and sometimes challenge) what we now consider to be integral functions of news sites – sharing, commenting and conversing with our readers. I believe this has given me a far better understanding of just what is possible online."

She added: "I’ve had my successes and my failures but I’ve always tried to learn the lessons from each. I leave The Times grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given and with immensely fond feelings for the friendly and very talented people I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside. I wish them every success in the future."

In a statement head of Guardian.co.uk Georgina Henry said Geary will be based in the newsroom, but will work across all editorial departments, "helping us develop better digital skills for journalists, best practice for the use of social media, community engagement, crowdsourcing and other aspects of open journalism, as part of our digital-first strategy."

"She will also be developing new ways to tell stories and new digital methods of working, and working on specific projects to develop and extend editorial areas."

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