I'm Jono Read. I bring together editorial instinct, audience insight and hands-on digital experience to help organisations tell stronger stories, grow communities and make content count.
Audience growth · Editorial strategy · Community building
Organisations and publications I've worked with, contributed to or written for.
the GuardianI work at the intersection of editorial judgement, community-building, platform expertise and measurable audience growth.
Leading social strategy for East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, embedding audience thinking into editorial planning, coaching teams and developing content that drives reach, engagement and referrals.
Helping modernise social strategy across more than 60 regional titles, developing community-led Facebook groups and supporting journalists with social newsgathering and audience discovery.
Helping lead digital operations at The New European, supporting online readership and digital revenue while contributing to fast-turnaround journalism, subscriptions and an award-winning podcast.
I founded Unofficial Mills in 2004 and grew it into an independent radio and entertainment community, reaching a peak of six million monthly page views. It has been a long-running lesson in editorial publishing, audience loyalty and building communities from the ground up.
From grassroots campaigns that reached national news to sharing digital innovation with local newsrooms, I've spent years helping ideas find an audience.
Independent campaigning, media relations and presentations at journalism conferences, including a session at Facebook's headquarters (now Meta).
Explore campaigns & speakingTechnology should solve an audience problem, not create a new one. I use practical tools such as chatbots to help people access timely, useful information, with strong editorial judgement guiding the experience.
Using chatbots to deliver sports results and match updates directly to audiences, making timely information easier to find and follow.
Applying chatbot-led information and coverage to major events, including Coldplay in Hull, to help audiences stay informed and engaged.
Platforms change. Formats come and go. But the most effective digital work still starts with curiosity, creativity, strong editorial judgement and a willingness to measure what matters.
Using data, conversation and social listening to understand what people need, discuss and share.
Turning those insights into better stories, sharper priorities and platform-appropriate content.
Building meaningful relationships that support discovery, referrals, engagement and loyalty.
Helping people work more confidently and creatively while keeping outcomes in focus.
From newsrooms and national publishers to higher education and independent media, I've helped teams understand audiences and use platforms more effectively.
Audience strategy, newsroom collaboration, social publishing, performance analysis and team leadership across BBC East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire.
Supporting national publishing across the Mirror and Daily Star, shaping platform-specific approaches to drive readership and engagement.
Helping run digital operations, develop online audiences, cover breaking political stories and support subscriptions and revenue.
Group-wide social strategy, community innovation, journalist training and editorial discovery across more than 60 publications.
Leading social channels and recruitment communications, introducing emerging formats and supporting staff training and analysis.
Strong audience strategy isn't just about chasing an algorithm. It's about understanding people.
I'm a social media leader, journalist and writer with more than a decade of experience across regional journalism, national media, digital publishing and higher education.
I've led teams, supported journalists through major stories, pioneered new ways to engage communities and helped news organisations adapt as platforms, formats and audience habits have evolved.
What motivates me is finding the opportunity others haven't spotted yet, using the right mix of data, creativity and editorial judgement to make something genuinely useful to its audience.
Beyond my professional roles, I've run Unofficial Mills since 2004, a hands-on lesson in building loyal audiences and managing an independent publication over the long term.
You might also have spotted me on your For You feed, sharing viral observations about television and popular culture. My posts have travelled across social platforms and have regularly been quoted in newspapers and magazines.
I've always been curious about how media, technology and culture connect. My writing archive is part of that story, and it's not going anywhere.