Donald Trump and other politicians are using social media to bypass the media and get their message straight to the public. So what can news organizations do to get their political content noticed? In this interactive session, panelists will share their experiences and research on what makes news content – specifically political content – go viral. Attendees will leave with new, creative ideas for how to better reach their social media audience ahead of the 2018 election.

1. Making Politics Popular
(Like Puppies)
Ashley Muddiman, Engaging News Project
Patrick Costello, Naytev
Trevor Eischen, Politico

2. What type of content
gets shared the most
on social media?

3. This.

4. And this.

5. And anything
this guy posts.

6. He’s not alone.
More
politicians are
using social
media to
connect with
the public.
 In September 2009, only 205 Congressional members (38%) had a
registeredTwitter account. By January 2012, that number had
doubled to 78.7%.
 By January 2013, all 100 U.S. senators had createdTwitter
accounts.
Source: Congressional Research Service, Social Media in Congress:The
Impact of Electronic Media on Member Communications, May 2016

7. How do we get
the public to
see more of
this type of
content?

8. We’re here to
help.
Engaging News Project
 Based at the University ofTexas at Austin
 Goal: Provide research-based techniques for engaging audiences
in commercially viable and democratically beneficial ways
 A/B tested hundreds of social media posts with tens of thousands
of social media users to determine what makes news content –
specifically political content – go viral

9. We’re here to
help.
Naytev
 Y Combinator and Knight Foundation-backed company
 Provides the media industry’s first unified social media A/B testing
and distribution platform
 Has worked with news organizations, likeVICE andTechCrunch, to
use A/B testing to grow their audience and increase engagement

10. We’re here to
help.
Politico
 Global news and information company at the intersection of
politics and policy
 Publishes roughly 3,000 stories, 2,000 pushed news alerts for
subscribers and 1,000 reported morning newsletters in an average
month
 Averages 26 million unique visitors per month to its U.S. website

11. What we hope
to accomplish
atSXSW.
 Share our experience with using social media to promote news
(especially political content)
 Share our research on what qualities help social media posts go
viral
 Brainstorm new, creative ideas for how to better reach social
media audiences ahead of the 2018 election