Jono Read is a social media and audience growth leader with experience across the BBC, national news, regional publishing, higher education and independent digital communities.

He is currently Social Media Lead at the BBC, where is helping shape social strategy, grow audiences and bring platform-first storytelling into local journalism. Since joining the BBC in 2022, he has helped transform the performance of local social channels, increasing referrals by 380% in his first year and driving further year-on-year growth through stronger social listening, sharper editorial planning and closer collaboration across TV, radio, online and social teams.

Jono has worked across some of the UK’s best-known media organisations. At Reach, he supported national titles including the Daily Mirror and Daily Star with social media strategy and audience growth. As Digital Editor at The New European, he helped expand the title’s digital reach during a defining period of growth. At Archant, he helped modernise social strategy across more than 60 regional publications and was recognised by Facebook for his work developing community-led local news groups.

His work sits at the point where journalism, creativity and platform intelligence meet. He specialises in understanding what audiences care about, turning social signals into strong editorial ideas, and helping teams create content that travels across platforms.

Alongside his newsroom work, Jono has built and run long-term independent digital projects, including one of the UK’s most enduring fan-led radio communities, which reached millions of monthly page views at its peak. He has also worked as a technology reviewer across magazines, broadcast media and online platforms, covering consumer technology, apps, streaming, mobile phones and digital culture.

Jono is especially interested in social innovation, audience insight, editorial strategy, community-building and the future of digital media.