ERIN BALSER (@booksin140) is a writer, critic, and consultant living in Toronto, Ontario. A displaced Maritimer, she drinks way too much coffee, spends all her time on the internet, pretends she’s a vegan, and writes things. You can find her writing such things at Books@Torontoist, where she’s the senior editor, and Bookclub-in-a-Box, where she’s the associate executive director. Her latest project, KIRBC Presents Books in 140 Seconds will be hitting YouTube airwaves this spring, and her first book, Don't Stop Believin': The Unofficial Guide to Glee will be published by ECW Press this fall.

Erin's inaugural pick for social media bright idea: Bite-Size Edits

My current social-media-in-publishing obsession is Bite-Size Edits. Currently in beta and developed by Hugh McGuire of Book Oven (and his fantastic team), Bite-Size Edits democratizes and crowd-sources editing like never before. The possibilities for this new program are endless. Readers can become active participants in the creation of a book, editors can hone their skills, writers can draw on a super-talented and devoted community of editors. Can you imagine this in a classroom? A writing group? A communications department? Hell, Hugh and co. turned Bite-Size Edits into a game. And games are awesome.

[Julie adds: You're not alone, Erin. Check this. The New Yorker feels the same. http://twitter.com/bookoven/status/10891085338]