The 2015 Edelman Media Forecast: Storytelling in the Age of Social News Consumption took a deep dive into what ingredients made news stories social in 2014 across general news and five key industry sectors to better understand how our media strategies must adapt, in partnership with NewsWhip and Muck Rack. For more information, visit: http://www.edelman.com/2015-edelman-media-forecast/

1. 2015
EDELMAN MEDIA
FORECAST
Storytelling in the
Age of Social News
Consumption

2. 2
HOW SOCIAL
NEWS CONSUMPTION
WILL IMPACT
STORYTELLING
IN 2015

3. STUDY APPROACH
3
Edelman partner
NewsWhip
used Insights, an
analytics platform with
details on every story
published since
January 1, 2014 - over
100 million stories
Edelman Berland
leveraged those key themes
to craft and field an informed
journalist, online survey
to 251 respondents via
credible third-party journalist
database, Muck Rack,
to validate
Edelman Media
Network created
suggestions for
takeaways for media
strategies in 2015
Insights contains
all social sharing data
(Facebook, Twitter,
Pinterest and LinkedIn),
metadata, and
authorship information
for each story.

4. KEY INSIGHTS FROM NEWSWHIP DATA
4
Facebook
dominates all other
social platform
interactions
Non-legacy media
publishers make
up the majority of
the most-engaged
sites on Facebook
Four percent
of the most shared
articles originated
from UK
publishers
Top Sources:
Huffington Post,
Buzz Feed,
Mashable,
PlayBuzz

5. KEY INSIGHTS FROM NEWSWHIP DATA
5
The Huffington
Post featured more
video than any other
news site; emerged
as top shared news
outlet on Facebook
overall
BBC, New York
Times and
Mashable posted the
most amount of
shares on Twitter
Forbes, New York
Times and
Business Insider
posted the most
amount of shares
on LinkedIn

6. KEY FINDINGS BY SECTOR
Tech Health Finance Food & Bev Energy
Nearly 50% of
technology articles
included quotes, most
often commentary from
company spokespeople,
academics, and tech
experts.
Articles focused on health
were often substantial
in length, as journalists
incorporated quotes from
medical professionals
and research studies into
reports.
Top stories in the health
sector featured the
highest number of stock
photos, which appeared
most often in articles
discussing mental health,
psychology, and human
behavior.
Only 24% of financial
articles were short, as
most contained detailed
facts or figures. Data
presented was typically
backed up with sources,
with 73% of articles
containing quotes.
Huffington Post emerged
as a key outlet, with
nearly half (24 out of the
top 50) of the top stories
appearing on the site.
BuzzFeed also appeared
prominently, posting 18
of the top 50 articles.
Nearly one third of
articles (16 or 32%) were
lists, often composed
of recipes or restaurant
recommendations.
Articles focused on
energy were typically long
and detailed, with 83%
containing 3rd party
quotes, including policy
makers and academics.

7. HOW JOURNALISTS
SHARE NEWS
ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Survey
Results
7

8. OBJECTIVES & METHODOLOGY
8
SURVEY
FACTS
HOW MANY
US Media
n = 251
WHEN
Data collection
occurred between
11/22 - 12/12 2014
HOW
Online
Survey
ACCURACY
Margin of error +/-
6.19% at 95%
confidence level

9. 3 OUT OF 4 JOURNALISTS ARE FEELING
MORE PRESSURE NOW TO SHARE ON SOCIAL
9
Compared with the past, are you feeling more pressure now
to think about your story’s potential to get shared on social
platforms (including your news organization’s platforms)?
76%of journalists

10. THE INGREDIENTS FOR
“SHAREABLE” CONTENT INCLUDE…
66%
48%
33% 33%
25% 22%
16%
9%
3% 1%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Contains an
image(s)
Subject could
easily be
connected to a
bigger picture
story already
trending
Easily
localized/made
relevant to your
target audience
Contains a
video(s)
Brevity (easily
condensed to
bite-sized form)
Data / Numbers in
the headline
Potential to be
framed in "listicle"
form
Quote(s) from an
academic or
industry expert
Quote(s) from a
3rd party
Quotes(s) from a
company
spokesperson
Quotes(s) from a
blogger
Which elements do you think are the most important to making your story more ‘shareable?' (Please select all that apply.)
10
82%

11. JOURNALISTS ARE BUILDING
THEIR OWN BRANDS ON SOCIAL
11
In general, what social platform do you use the most in your profession?
What social platform do you use the most for building your own brand?
On average, how often do you check Twitter?
Most used for
my profession
Most used to build
my own brand
86%check Twitter several
times a day
“Social media
platforms, with a
particular emphasis
on Facebook and
Twitter, will be a big
part of growing my
own and my site's
audience.
78% 75%
18%
16%
2%
3%

12. ORIGINAL, COMPANY-PROVIDED,
VIDEO IS THE MOST DESIRED
On average, what do you look for
when including video in your story?
74%
original video
created by your
company / site
14%
consumer
generated
videos
13%
a courtesy
video from a
third party
3%
a corporate
/ branded video
2%
a stock
video from a
subscription
service
12

13. 13
Journalists see five key
trends impacting their
profession this year: more
mobile friendly content, faster
turnaround times, more original
video, smaller newsroom staff
and social media growing in
influence

14. 14
STORYTELLING
TAKEAWAYS

15. 15
CRAFT AN INHERENTLY
SHARABLE STORY

16. 16
DEEPEN RELATIONSHIPS
WITH JOURNALISTS

17. 17
HELP NEWS
ORGANIZATIONS
CREATE ORIGINAL
CONTENT

18. 18
SEE WHAT’S OVER
THE HORIZON

19. CONTACT
Mark Rogers
mark.rogers@edelmanberland.com
CONTACT
Katie Scrivano
Katie.Scrivano@edelman.com
OR
Steve Rubel
Steve.Rubel@edelman.com
for more
information