Hi. I’m Ed Charles, a Melbourne-based freelance journalist and am prolific in the social media space.

In 2005 I started this blog, Tomato, which has now become one of the top food blogs in Australia and one of the best read and most influential in Melbourne. I also tweet as @tomatom and have quickly gained over 5,000 followers.

I split my time writing about business and food and drink for a mix of daily newspaper sections, magazines and websites. I also help organisations that need help with social media and websites.

I also am a ring leader in organising stuff. In 2010 I was the driving force who made the first Australian Food Bloggers’ Conference, cocktail party and dinner happen arranging all the venues and sponsors. I also single handedly arranged a SBS Food sponsored exhibition of food bloggers’ photos.

Currently I’m one of the ring leaders behind the Melbourne Fringe Food Festival and am organising various eating and drinking events.

I’ve extended my presence across many social sites and learnt the various unwritten rules for engaging people online. And now I help guide organisations through the social media minefield and develop practical plans that work in this unruly world where the crowd can be unpredictable.

I help develop practical strategies and plans that can win followers and customers by using various social media platforms.

Check out my Linked In and Twitter profiles.

WRITING

A selection of recent articles is available on the Portfolio section of this site. Here are some of the recent media I have written for:

SBS Food – SBS’s food website.
The Australian – Monthly Entrepreneur liftout
The Punch – News Ltd’s adventure in group blogging
Ad News – The weekly Stir Friday opinion column
Melbourne Cup Carnival Magazine – coffee culture
Herald Sun – The weekly Extrabite food and drink column and features
GQ – on Melbourne restaurants and bars
The Australian – Weekly Wealth liftout
The Weekend Australian – Travel and Indulgence
IN THE BLACK – The CPA’s monthly business magazine
Henry – Henry Buck’s occasional magazine
HBA Shine Magazine – healthy recipes

RESTAURANT REVIEWING

Currently I am building the Bite Melbourne iPhone review app crowd sourcing reviews from bloggers. I reviewed restaurants for the soon to be launched Melbourne Coffee Review (which is also available as an iPhone app), The Age Good Food Guide 2008 and The Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide 2008. I also reviewed for the Golden Plate Awards in both the Geelong Otway region in 2006 and 2007 and in the Mornington Peninsula in 2006. I also have reviewed restaurants on my food blog Tomato since 2005.

Tomato – restaurant reviews (warning: may contain offensive food and bad language)

SPEAKING

I am available to speak on the disjoin between traditional media and social media. Specifically, I speak on how small businesses can harness social media and free blogging tools for marketing. I also speak on how businesses need to integrate social media and blogs into their marketing and PR plans. Recently I have spoken at:

Photography: Christina Simons

SOCIAL MEDIA

I run the popular Melbourne-focused food and wine blog Tomato which attracts some 30,000+ page views each month. I also established the group blog Very Cheap Eats and Food and Wine Daily, which is still in development.

WEBSITES AND BLOGS

I can help set up easy to update and cost effective blogs and websites with all those great Web2.0 features including RSS, comments, video, audio and so on. I can help set-up with the key blog platforms such as WordPress, Movable Type, Typepad and Blogger. These all can also be used as content management systems for websites. They make updating a website as easy as pressing save in Microsoft Word.

I can also advise on marketing through social sites and blogs and provide coaching.