SPIN has reinvented the idea of the capsule music album review for Twitter via @SPINReviews. The @SPINreviews Twitter feed is a massive undertaking: an exhaustively definitive listener’s guide and argument-starter for virtually every album or EP or mixtape that matters in 2012. Within the confines of a 140-character tweet, our eight in-house editors and a team of a dozen valued freelancers are reviewing more than 1,500 new records a year. More than 1,500 reviews means more bands, more records and more opportunities to explore under-covered genres like hip-hop, heavy metal, dance music, chart pop, world music, and the outsider avant-garde. Spearheaded by Chris Weingarten, the voice behind @1000timesyes, album reviews will be shortened so they'll fit onto a Twitter feed and posted online alongside select longer reviews on SPIN.com. SPIN is responding to a trend on the web towards quality. With social media being a larger traffic driver than search, the web is now rewarding quality again -- and we have an editorial team that is driving the conversation. The introduction of @SPINReviews is part of a cross-platform editorial approach that allows us to tell our stories across a variety of content areas and really dive deep into the strengths of each platform. We use the idea of form and function as a guiding principle. We’re constantly thinking about the evolution of SPIN in terms of how our consumers want to access content and how we can best serve their needs. Everything goes back to the reader. SPIN is better serving the evolving needs of its audience, particularly in the social space: delivering SPIN in the best way possible and letting each platform play to its strengths. Weingarten, who is spearheading the @SPINReviews project, famously reviewed 1,000 records over Twitter on his account @1000TimesYes in 2009.
http://www.spin.com/articles/spin-reinvents-album-review-introducing-spinreviews https://twitter.com/#!/SPINReviews
