A content management server monitors activity on a social networking system originating from an authorized user account. The server detects a post by the account that contains a predefined trigger tag. The server creates a story record in a web publishing application on the server responsive to detecting the post containing the predefined trigger tag. The server automatically generates a direct messaging conversation to populate additional fields of the story record. The server detects a closing inbound direct message from the account containing a publish tag, and responsive to detecting the closing inbound direct message, automatically publishes the story record.