Thread by @MattLCapon

🧵🚨THREAD ALERT!🚨🧵

Last week, I shared a tweet poking fun at @marksandspencer's cheeseburger pasta salad. What I didn't expect was that it would result in write-ups on both local and national news websites.

However, as it's been almost a week, I have a confession...

1/19

The post was only ever meant for a @cityjournalism advanced lecture. My initial idea was to cover a variety of key topics, including how to write on social media using SEO and keywords, the placement of photos and videos to add interest etc.

It escalated a tad.

2/19

The key to #socialmedia content is to appeal to three levels of emotions to elicit engagement with your audience/readers:

1.) Visceral
2.) Behavioral
3.) Reflective

The @risj_oxford Digital News Report highlights the role social media plays in the delivery of news below.

3/19

First, I needed to find a subject or topic around which I could build a post that could (potentially) become a talking point. X/Twitter often works best with content that covers at least two out of the three emotional states to engage the reader...

4/19

I wanted to achieve the 'Marmite Effect' in the (as yet unwritten) post. Social media is full of polarising opinions, and @cityjournalism students need to understand how to navigate this landscape with care.

5/19

Good piece from @Campaignmag here:

campaignlive.co.uk/article/marmit…

It was only after an idle walk to get some lunch that I saw the cheeseburger pasta salad on the shelves of my local @marksandspencer, and the idea started to seriously take shape from there.

What I didn't realise was just how much of a gift this was going to be...

6/19

The cheeseburger pasta salad was part of @marksandspencer's new food range that launched at the end of April, and it had received a variety of reviews from the likes of @loosewomen, @TheSun, and @MetroUK

7/19

A great @RachelCDailey write-up here:

metro.co.uk/2024/04/28/m-s…

Next, I had to come up with a post that would evoke the three emotional reactions I was aiming for: Visceral, Behavioral, and Reflective.

However, I also wanted to make it flawed to provide the students with something to analyse and assess during the lecture itself...

8/19

Language is crucial for building a connection with the audience. Despite the temptation to swear, I chose to be critical, deliberately indignant, and droll.

This combination, when paired with the perceived act of wrongdoing, should provoke an emotional response...

9/19

My post didn't mention the product by name, nor did it reveal whether I've eaten the cheeseburger pasta salad or not. However, I did explicitly mention @marksandspencer. Additionally, I failed to add any alt-text to the image.

10/19

The inclusion of alt-text is crucial for ensuring digital accessibility for digital and social news content, so I had hoped the students would identify this omission in the lecture pretty quickly.

Additionally, alt-text improves overall SEO performance, so...

11/19

Next, I had to decide when I should post to maximise engagement. The vast majority of research, including studies from @buffer, shows that 11 a.m. is the sweet spot.

So, I settled on 10:45 a.m., just on the cusp of lunchtime...

12/19

buffer.com/resources/best…

At that point, I didn't give the post a second thought.

I had planned for my lecture with @GeorgeNegas the following day. He indulges my social and digital ideas at @cityjournalism and trusts me enough to know what I'm doing...

Image shared without comment *ahem*

13/19

What I didn't plan for was my post to be amplified - thanks to 'Best for Britain,' who reshared it. Their repost actually illustrated the emotional reactions I was hoping to talk about in our lecture...

The tweet has since been seen 22.5k times

14/19

What I didn't expect was a permission request from a national news outlet - and my former employer - to use my photo in a write-up about the reaction to my @marksandspencer cheeseburger pasta salad tweet.

Remember, it was only ever meant for a @cityjournalism lecture...

15/19

I know firsthand how hard that newsroom works - and the digital and social targets they have from above. And to be clear this whole idea was never intended as some elaborate 'Gotcha!' or a comment on what is or is not journalism.

So, I agreed...

16/19

mirror.co.uk/money/ms-fan-d…

The following day, the story appeared as a re-write on @birmingham_live. However, that article failed to link to my tweet, simply crediting me as 'Matt' - I'm assuming because I didn't give network permission for the image, which is fair enough.

17/19

birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/shopp…

Explaining these events to the students helped illustrate my point better than I could have ever originally imagined.

Digital newsgathering skills are such an integral part of being a journalist, especially when it comes to navigating the current social media landscape.

18/19

And just to be clear, I never bought the cheeseburger pasta salad and I most certainly won't be eating it anytime soon.

And here's to the final week for this year's MA Broadcasting students.

Bring it on.

19/19

So, the writeup about my @marksandspencer cheeseburger pasta salad tweet has indeed made it to Italy 🇮🇹

"Certainly, the ingredients used do not belong to the Italian tradition and in our country there is no recipe even remotely close."

forumagricolturasociale.it/2024/05/14/chi…