Jenni Hogan

Seattle’s social media queen is leaving KIRO and dreaming big.

Jenni Hogan, the KIRO 7 traffic anchor and Seattle’s popular social media maven, announced today that Dec. 28 will be her final day at KIRO.

Hogan will be teaming up with Target to “celebrate service” on projects involving Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy and the Inauguration of President Barack Obama.

“Yes, I’m excited. Yes, I’m a little nervous too,” Hogan wrote. “But the brilliant people who I’m so lucky to have in my world keep telling me if you don’t feel those nerves then you wouldn’t be doing something worthwhile and different.”

According to her Facebook page, Hogan will be staying in Seattle and “pausing and working out what I want to be when I grow up, while taking on projects I absolutely love (which hopefully means you’ll love too).”

Hogan, a 2011 finalist in the worldwide Shorty Awards (the “Oscars of Twitter”), was very appreciative of her four years at KIRO and the people she worked with there.

“I’ve loved my time at KIRO,” she wrote. “I’ve loved coming to work each day to connect with you on TV and online. My job has always been about helping people: Whether it’s been helping wake you up with a smile, helping you get to places on-time, or helping collect thousands of toys for kids. It’s been a blast, an honor and I’m ready to build on these accomplishments.”

We here at GeekWire are big fans of Hogan, who has more than 200,000 followers on Facebook and Twitter combined. She is an innovative thinker who pushes the limits of traditional media and the ways we consume information. Hogan, a UW graduate and former national champion rower, is also a mentor for many and founded the Go Girl Academy, a career acceleration program for women.

One of her more notable projects at KIRO was an experiment in social television. Hogan hosted a one-hour show that blended live television and online streaming with real-time interaction on Facebook and Twitter. The hash tag #KIROConnect was trending on Twitter at one point, and as tech investor Geoff Entress noted, it was a galvanizing event for the Seattle tech community, another demonstration of what happens when the community comes together and rallies behind something important.

Jeff Dickey sat down with Hogan last month to talk about she wants to change the way you interact with news — and the way it interacts with you. Watch the video here.

We’re excited to see what big things Hogan does next.

Like what you're reading? Subscribe to GeekWire's free newsletters to catch every headline

Job Listings on GeekWork

Find more jobs on GeekWork. Employers, post a job here.