The Washington Post’s Travis Lyles named deputy director, social, off-platform curation

In many ways, this is a formalization of what he has been doing since February, when Travis stepped up to oversee the core social team on an interim basis. In the months since, he displayed an expansive social knowledge and has shown versatility and empathy as a manager that's imperative as we invest in curation.

As Travis takes on this new role, the social teams will move under the Universal News Desk. Travis will partner with the leadership team of the UND under Kenisha Malcolm to create an epicenter for The Post’s on- and off-platform curation that will allow us to amplify our journalism more seamlessly and strategically on site, apps, social and through distribution channels. This more powerful, centralized curation team will highlight the breadth and depth of The Post’s storytelling in innovative ways across platforms.

When Travis joined The Post in 2017 as a social editor on our core team, he took ownership of our main Instagram account. Travis pioneered a new strategy for the account, focusing on breaking news and shareable posts that prioritized simple headlines. This shift was an instant accelerant to our Instagram growth and set The Post apart from an industry still focused on curating more traditional feeds. His work is among the reasons you see more text in your Instagram feed – from us and everyone else.

In January 2021, Travis became The Post’s first Instagram editor, leading a new expansion team to further our growth on the app. This innovative storytelling has changed The Post’s work across platforms, including the homepage and app, which now regularly showcase vertical video featuring our reporters on camera and slideshows of text news explainers.

Under Travis’s leadership, the main account has grown from 675,000 followers to nearly 6 million. He’s also expanded our constellation of accounts with @coveringpotus and an upcoming climate account. His commitment to excellence and experimentation on Instagram earned The Post Webby Awards in 2020 and 2021; it was a finalist in 2022.

Travis joined The Post in 2017 from the Virginian-Pilot, where he was a social media producer. He worked on social at Business Insider before that. A sneakerhead and avid boxer, Travis is a Newport News, Va., native and graduate of Longwood University.

Please congratulate him on his new role, effective immediately.