News values make social media posts pop!

Why do some social media posts explode like popcorn in hot oil, while others flop like a fish on dry land? Is it just about luck and magic, or is it possible to follow some rules or guidelines?

Let's borrow a page from the journalists' playbook. Every story faces a brutal "newsworthy" test, a set of criteria that separates front-page gold from forgotten filler. These same news values, when applied to social media, can make your posts irresistible, shareable, and downright addictive.

These newsroom secrets aren't gathering dust in journalism schools. They are the perfect formula for social media gold!

We'll establish what they are, explain them with a dash of whimsy, and provide practical tips on how to apply them like a pro to your Insta stories, TikToks, or X threads. Let's roll through the eight fabulous news values that could make your posts spin in people's feeds!

The juicy backstory of what's "newsworthy". Before we dive into flamboyant strategies, let's widen our lens like a wide-angle camera on a selfie stick. Newsworthiness isn't some modern invention. A quick historical fun fact, it actually got roots stretching back to ancient Rome, around the time of Julius Caesar himself, where basic news about senators, court acts, and births, marriages, and deaths was circulated as Acta Diurna. Daily acts, that is. So while Caesar was busy making salads of his allies and practising cesarean sections on his foes, the Romans were literally carving their relationship drama in stone. No delete button there!

But the fundamental theory kicked off in the 20th century. Enter Norwegian sociologists Johan Galtung and Mari Holmboe Ruge in 1965, who pinned down 12 "news factors" that explain why some events make the cut while others gather dust. Factors like frequency, how often it happens, threshold, how big it is, unexpectedness, the surprise twist, and negativity, because bad news travels fast, determine if a story has that "it" factor.

Over the decades, this theory evolved like Pokémon. Scholars, who had to catch them all, refined it into more digestible lists of eight core values, including impact, timeliness, prominence, proximity, the bizarre, conflict, currency, and human interest.

Why can't we look away? Those values are wired into our brains. Newsworthiness is human psychology and our love for the dramatic, the relatable, and the urgent. It's all about how to hook audience interest and crank up engagement.

Stories with high news values feel relevant and resonant. They spark curiosity, evoke emotions, and make us think, "I gotta share this!" Newsworthy boosts audience perception, encourages deeper understanding, and even stirs up debates or actions. It's like a magnet for our attention spans in a world drowning in information. Without it, stories fade into the background noise.

How newsworthiness supercharges social media. Now, let's teleport this from dusty newsrooms to your glowing screens. Social media isn't just cat pics and memes. It's a wild arena where "virality", or the rapid and widespread sharing of content, reigns supreme.

The same news values that make headlines scream, also fuel those rocketship likes, shares, and comments. In journalism, these values filter the flood of events into digestible bites. On platforms like Instagram or X, they act as turbo-boosters for engagement. Posts that hit timeliness, fresh and now, or human interest, heart-tugging tales, don't just get seen. They evoke a sensation, prompting users to interact because they resonate on a personal level.

Social media democratises newsmaking. Anyone can be a "journalist" crafting content that mimics pro stories. Applying news values like making your post impactful or bizarre, predicts higher shares and comments, turning passive scrollers into active participants.

It's not about going viral overnight. Virality often stems from "bottom-up" motivations. People share because it entertains, informs, or connects, echoing those core values. So, by weaving in newsworthiness, your posts evolve from meh to must-see, fostering loyalty and turning followers into fans.

To bring this home, let's spotlight applicable social media strategies for the eight news values: Impact, timeliness, prominence, proximity, the bizarre, conflict, currency, and human interest.

We'll unpack each with whimsy, root them in research, and dish out social media hacks to make your content sparkle. We'll also decode how these news values boost mental availability, that holy grail of marketing where your brand lives rent-free in customers' heads.

Is your favourite value not yet clickable? Stay tuned for more values in future instalments. We're rolling them out strategy by strategy in the following weeks.

Consider this your cheat code to the algorithm's heart. Welcome to the dark art of making people actually care.