Twitter: @imikewilliams @triangledotcom

Website/Blog: http://www.triangle.com

Mike Williams is the Managing Editor of triangle.com, a local entertainment and things-to-do website in the Triangle owned by The News & Observer. He started at The N&O in 2003 as a page designer while still a student at North Carolina Central University in Durham. After graduation, he continued to design at the newspaper and often wrote stories for the What’s Up section (now called “Weekend”) and for the North Raleigh News. In 2007 he moved to the online operation and took over triangle.com.

Mike immediately brought excitement to triangle.com and, in 2010, led the website to new heights by tripling its traffic. He has sponsored community and charitable events and worked with other groups in the area to help capture the essence of the Triangle by encouraging users to share their photos and community news on the site. Mike is always looking to form new partnerships so feel free to contact him if you have a project in mind.

How can we use technology to close the digital divide?

Answer: It’s really already started with the emergence of the smart phone. Now, anyone with a basic smart phone has access to Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, etc. So you’re starting to see people from all walks of life participate in conversations over social networks giving their perspective. You also see cable television use technology to reach viewers. For instance, on ESPN, BET and BRAVO, viewers can tweet (or send FB message) to the host of a program and interact. This gives them a voice they wouldn’t have had otherwise. Once we do a better job of educating others about technology and new trends, we’ll see the gap start to get smaller. Sometimes all it takes is teaching someone about the different products and services that our out there.