Heron, head of social media, leaving WSJ

Almar Latour, executive editor of The Wall Street Journal, sent out the following staff change announcement on Wednesday:

Liz Heron is leaving her position as head of the audience development desk to take on a new challenge at Facebook. Liz has been a real force in the newsroom: Under her leadership, editors and reporters in our global newsroom embraced social media – from sourcing and verification to publishing in innovative ways. Liz helped shape our newsroom mobile phone and tablet strategy, connecting mobile with social, promoting mobile story-telling and encouraging the creation of mobile-first graphics. She also introduced Storyful to the newsroom.  As a result, our social and mobile presence has grown sharply, and the digital transformation of the newsroom has accelerated.  We’d like to thank Liz for everything that she has done for the Journal and wish her best of luck in her new position.

Social Media Editor Allison Lichter will take on Liz’s duties on an interim basis.  Allison has been a digital editor with the Journal since 2010, and led the social media team while Liz was on leave for part of 2013, expanding the social team’s reach to WSJ bureaus around the world. She’s a champion of innovation, specifically on the social media and mobile fronts.