Letters From The Editor: Putting out a new face on Facebook

Those of you who follow us on Facebook may have noticed some inconsistencies in how frequently we update our pages.

Some days we update them, some days we don’t.

That changes now.

We are making social media a priority for the Coastline Pilot, Daily Pilot, Huntington Beach Independent and O.C. Now “” a site that aggregates news and sports from those three newspapers, as well as from the Los Angeles Times and our media partner, OCLNN.Com.

Thanks to our talented Web editor, Jamie Wetherbe, each of the Times Community Newspapers in Orange County has a new Facebook page.

The news feeds update shortly after stories go live online and also feature content unique to our Facebook pages, such as story previews and invitations to discuss local issues.

We’ve already started posting on the wall.

The Coastline Pilot’s city editor, Cindy Frazier, previewed a story about why sea lion pups are washing ashore along the Orange Coast due to dehydration and starvation.

Huntington Beach Independent City Editor Michael Miller used Facebook recently to preview the third installment in an interesting series on Huntington Beach’s examination of the Lost Boys of Sudan, the subject of a citywide read-one-book program.

And I wrote an advance on the Daily Pilot and O.C. Now pages about the Costa Mesa debate between the two Republicans running for governor.

Some of you may have already been “friends” with us on Facebook.

No more.

Let me explain. Those original Facebook pages will be deleted, largely because Facebook gears them to individuals, not businesses, and we are, after all, in business.

We would directly import our friends’ lists from the old pages if we could, but we can’t.

So we are asking our Facebook “friends” “” and sorry for how immodest this sounds “” to become “fans” instead.

To make that happen, just follow these links:

?Coastline Pilot: tinyurl.com/ybpbur2

?Daily Pilot: tinyurl.com/yz3uflj

?Huntington Beach Independent: tinyurl.com/yamaufj

?O.C. Now: tinyurl.com/ybnfun4

If you’re reading the Coastline Pilot in print today, you’ll notice that the newspaper is narrower.

The length of the paper remains the same, but we have shaved about 2 inches from the width.

We now have the same editorial dimensions as our parent newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, which is how many of our readers get the Pilot.

The typeface we use for stories will remain the same, ensuring readability, though the headlines will shrink in some cases and, of course, some of our articles will be shorter.

Nothing else has changed. We are as committed as ever to providing Laguna Beach with good reporting, writing and photography in print and online.

If you have any questions or concerns, e-mail me at john.canalis@latimes.com or call (714) 966-4607.

JOHN CANALIS is the editor for Times Community News South, which publishes the Daily Pilot, Huntington Beach Independent, Coastline Pilot and O.C. Now. He can be reached at (714) 966-4607.