Buckingham Palace is seeking a social media editor. You can tweet for the Queen!
“Whether you’re covering a state visit, award ceremony or royal engagement, you’ll make sure our digital channels consistently spark interest and reach a range of audiences,” reads the job description on the official royal household employment board. (If you’re more of an analog person, they also need a paper conservation expert to work at Windsor Castle.)
The post continues:
The reaction to our work is always high-profile, and so reputation, brand and impact will be at the forefront of all you do. And having your work shared around the world will be the biggest reward.
It also comes with a generous benefits package, including 33 vacation days and free lunch.
Pros: The Queen, who turns 90 today (April 21), is no stranger to social media. She received her first cell phone in 2001, and grandsons William and Harry have already shown her how to send text messages.
You’ll be inheriting an established social media presence with a combined 5.3 million followers across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. (The monarch does not appear to be on Snapchat; you’ll want to get on that.) The Internet also loves goofy-looking animals, and the Queen’s fleet of corgis should be fodder for countless posts.
Cons: In a digital economy fueled by hot takes and controversy, you’ll be working for a client who has studiously avoided revealing any opinions of any kind for a solid nine decades in the public eye. This is a person who on the eve of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, with one-third of her country preparing to break away, would offer no stronger comment than, “I hope people will think very carefully about the future.” Nobody thinks carefully about the future on Twitter, Your Majesty! Now put that hat on that corgi.
The Queen also does not like to see people on phones, which may make it tricky to tweet while mobile. She banned palace staff from carrying cell phones in the early 2000s (the ring tones were getting on her nerves, it seems) and has complained about the sea of phone cameras that now greet her on public appearances.
“She was essentially saying ‘I miss eye contact,’” the US Ambassador to Britain Matthew Barzun told Tatler magazine after meeting the monarch.
Wait until you show her Face Swap.