ZYNC from American Express and MTV announced Gabi Gregg as the winner of “Follow Me: The Search for the first MTV TJ” competition, www.zync.mtv.com. Gabi was named the first MTV TJ “Twitter Jockey” after a nationwide vote which aired on MTV and was streamed simultaneously on MTV.com – and will be based at MTV’s HQ in NYC. The three month long job search featured 20 candidates battling it out in a series of Twitter challenges.
Gabi, 23, is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College where she graduated cum laude in May 2008 with a degree in International Relations and African American Studies. In 2008, she founded the popular blog “Young, Fat and Fabulous.” Since then she’s been interviewed by The New York Times and Good Morning America, and has been featured in the fashion magazines French Glamour and Vogue Italia.
“So much to say about how I feel right now, but keeping it to 140 characters or less I’ll say, #VMAs here I come! THANK U to #ZYNC, #MTV and most of all the fans whose votes got me here! I promise I won’t let you down! #ZYNCmtvTJ,” said Gabi Gregg.
The position is a modern-day re-imagining of the pioneering MTV VJ. While the MTV VJ had a one-way dialog in reporting music and pop culture-related news to the audience, the MTV TJ will actively engage MTV’s hyper-social audience – answering their questions and amplifying their interests, while doling out behind-the-scenes information, cool links and exclusive media across MTV.com, Twitter, Facebook, blogs and in 30-second sponsored on-air interstitials.
This newly created position expands upon MTV’s history of providing its audience a global platform to express themselves. MTV uses social media to make it easier for its fans to engage around loud programming moments – everything from Twitter visualizations for award shows and chat widgets for popular series like The Jersey Shore, to an active Twitter and Facebook following.
Gabi will begin work immediately, reporting for her first assignment at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards in LA on 9/12.
