I knew the successor to Jeannette Jordan as The Saratogian social scene reporter would have big shoes to fill.

But I didn’t imagine it would take eight feet to do it.

Yet that’s what we have: Four local women have teamed up as the “Toga Tattlers” to bring the social scene to life for Saratogian readers.

You’ll be meeting the Toga Tattlers in print and online early next week. For the moment, I’ll do just a little tattling. They are, in alphabetical order:

•  Sage Cerone, the youngest of the Tattlers, is a Saratoga Springs native who professes to have “been on the social circuit since she was old enough to hold her own wine glass” and, like her sister Tattlers, “is a lover of all things Saratoga.”
• Robin Dalton is a New York City native who moved here in 2007 after falling in love with Matt Dalton and Saratoga. They have two children and one dog, Smushie.
• Jenny Witte (rhymes with pretty) aptly describes herself as “an energetic mother of three who knows Saratoga inside and out.” She brings extensive blogging and online media experience to the mix.
• Tamara Valentine discovered not long after graduating Skidmore College that she belonged in Saratoga, and has lived here more than 20 years, raising her teenage girls “just steps from the track.”

There was no shortage of would-be social scene scribes who responded to the job posting. It was gratifying to hear from so many people who thought the job would be fun but also recognized that it’s real work. Besides describing who’s who and what they wore, the social writer for The Saratogian has an important role in letting the community know how these myriad events benefit local organizations, programs and people. And no detail is too small – including the accurate spelling of dozens of names. 

The game plan is for the Toga Tattlers to do their reporting where most people look first, on the Internet. They will have a blog onThe Saratogian website, a Facebook presence, and you can already follow them @TogaTattlers.

For print, we will cull from their online posts so that no readers will be left out. This is a new way of handling social coverage for The Saratogian, so I’ll be most appreciative of your comments and suggestions as we fine-tune the process. Even with four Toga Tattlers, we can’t be everywhere, and an essential component to our coverage will continue to be reader-provided photos and information. 

The Toga Tattlers stood out among the many promising applicants for several reasons. I was intrigued by the hook of a team approach, and I liked the range of ages, interests and backgrounds. They are absolutely at home in the world of Facebook and Twitter. It was critical to have someone who could hit the social media ground running, in flats or heels. They brought to their interview infectious enthusiasm, familiarity with a spectrum of the local social scene and, last but not least, respect for the position and the shoes into which they are so eagerly stepping.