INMA - International Newsmedia Marketing Association

07/17/2025 | News release | Distributed by Public on 07/17/2025 22:42

Nail key features of TikTok, Facebook to go viral in 2025

By Chris Miles Senior Strategic Advisor NewsWhip Charleston, South Carolina, USA Connect The first few months of 2025 have been a whiplash for social media.Facebook kicked off the year by flipping the switches on its content policies, thereby rewiring its algorithm and, in effect, putting political content back near the top of feeds.TikTok went offline briefly, only to return stronger than ever, with a wave of influencers now shaping platform discussion.X has fully cemented itself as the loudspeaker of choice for the political right, with vibes that feel more like cable news than a social network.But amid the chaos, one thing is clear: News engagement on these platforms is booming.Across platforms, news publisher interaction rates are at their highest levels in four years. And in a media landscape reshaped by AI, declining search traffic, and platform volatility, social media remains the most dynamic top-of-funnel space for newsrooms looking to grow their audience, build loyalty, and drive business impact.Social platforms may be unpredictable, but they are measurable, giving us an insight into audience behaviours. NewsWhip's 2025 Publisher Report shows what's working for news publishers in the first part of the year. The headlines:TikTok is dominating engagement.Facebook is rewarding hard news again.Legacy brands such as Fox, CBS, and CNN are having a viral resurgence.The feeds are shifting. Here's how your newsroom can keep up.TikTok: a news engagement powerhouseTikTok now commands 63% of all engagement among major publishers - tripling Instagram's engagement share - and making it today's most viral-first news platform, per Newswhip.What's driving this surge? Beat-driven, personality-led short-form content. Leaders in the space range from the likes of ESPN, Daily Mail, CBS News, and more. TikTok's ever-growing influence as a primary platform for news consumption is becoming clearer, especially among younger audiences.More specifically, it's creating a wave of exemplary news creators, setting the tone (and the direction) for much news discussion.So, how can you go viral on TikTok?Treat TikTok like an assignment desk. Allocate reporters to monitor trending hashtags and discussions, then form stories based on these. This allows you to plug straight into the online zeitgeist of a moment.When posting on TikTok (or even just posting video on any platform), be sure to lead with a hook. Capture viewers in the first one to three seconds. This helps drive engagement, ensuring content gets seen in feeds.Be authentic. Give behind-the-scenes glimpses, post on-the-scene explainers, or add light humour to your videos. This all goes further than polish and helps you see more digital native.Stay niche. Beat-focused accounts build loyal, consistent followings faster.Experiment with creator-driven content. TikTok is a place of personalities, and some of the best content is being built by creators. Work this model into your own coverage via one of your journalists. People, more so than brands, excel on the platform.Facebook: the resurgenceFacebook engagement is up 200%+ year-on-year. This included an astonishing 700% spike for Fox News in the first part of the year.Photo posts are out-performing video for many hard-news publishers. Publishers producing in-depth, engaging content that sparks meaningful interactions seem to benefit the most.Case in point: The Atlantic, which saw almost a quarter of its engagement for its longer form, political-heavy content come from Facebook in the first quarter.How can you go viral on Facebook?Dust off your old Facebook optimisation playbook from 2021 (publishers seem to be getting the same levels of engagement as they were from that period). Remember to publish during peak hours when your audience is awake. Post about every hour. Post different content types throughout the day. Double down on timely, shareable stories that hit during high-traffic windows.Make it engaging. Prioritise photo storytelling and snappy videos, and links with strong images and captions.Use Facebook groups and your page to resurface evergreen explainers and make your reporters more visible. Rebuild your Facebook audience strategy based on relevance, not reach. With engagement up by orders of magnitude for news publishers, now is the time to re-engage dormant audiences … but stay nimble: The algorithm giveth, and it taketh away.Hard news is having a momentPolitical and breaking news took center stage in the first part of the year. Fox News, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, and The Atlantic all leaped in engagement during the first quarter. On Facebook, engagement for hard news publishers doubled overall, and these outlets saw a 200% increase (!) in engagement year-over-year.There's an opportunity for traditional publishers to reclaim audience attention by delivering timely and in-depth reporting, especially with everything going on in the world.How can you make hard news go viral?Treat hard news as a competitive advantage. Lean into civic journalism like explainers, features, investigations, and policy coverage tied to current events. When breaking news happens, plan second- and third-day coverage.Cultivate trust. Lean into your reputation as a voice that rises above the din of the online crowd. Ensure your audience knows your content is sourced and reporter-led: Credibility now equals shareability.Highlight analysis and debate. Opinion-driven posts and interactive questions drive meaningful discussion and visibility - engagement that helps boost content in feed.Study the giants, then carve your nicheJust five publishers - ESPN, Bleacher Report, Daily Mail, LADbible, and Fox News - accounted for more than half of the total measured engagement of the 50 publishers indexed in the NewsWhip report.These brands thrive on recognisable formats, strong editorial voices, and platform-native content.How you can do it, too:Own your identity. Develop a signature format that audiences recognise and expect.Each platform has a clear format lane. Lean into it. TikTok = short video. Instagram = culture visuals. Facebook = photo-driven stories, even longer ones. X = breaking news and politics. Study the content strategies of leading publishers to identify successful formats and topics, adapting them to fit your brand's voice.Thumbnails, framing, and tone should be clearly branded.Make data your newsroom's compassStrategy without measurement is a guessing game. Use social listening tools to identify not just what's trending, but why.Build daily huddles or dashboards that reflect what's resonating on TikTok, Facebook, and X, and adapt story formats accordingly. Utilise these tools to monitor engagement metrics and adjust strategies in real-time for optimal performance.In a fragmented media landscape, data gives newsrooms a competitive edge. It reveals where your audiences actually are, what stories they're engaging with, and how your content stacks up against the competition.Whether you're spotting viral moments early, testing different headlines, or surfacing underperforming beats, real-time analytics turn gut instincts into actionable editorial decisions. It's not about chasing clicks - it's about building smarter, more responsive journalism that meets your audience where they are.The social landscape is volatile, but very much on the upswing at the moment. INMA media companies have the brand trust and journalistic firepower. Now it's about leaning into platform-native formats, data-backed agility, and purposeful community building. 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About Chris Miles Chris Miles is senior strategic advisor at NewsWhip in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. Chris can be reached at cbmilez@gmail.com or @CBMilez Related Articles Reuters Institute research details the new rules of the news ec... 2 July 2025 Paula Felps Globe and Mail leans into specificity, in-house strengths to pr... 4 June 2025 Kiran Rana 5 quick takeaways from INMA's New York study tour 4 June 2025 Amalie Nash Newsrooms must understand user needs of their audience 3 June 2025 Amalie Nash Personal stories, socially driven content attract Gen Z readers... 27 April 2025 Mariia Bohdanov... Interaction rate, engagement velocity are among key social enga... 27 April 2025 Chris Miles Repurpose content, revisit posting times to take advantage of F... 14 April 2025 Gabriella Vukel... What negativity, user needs, and AI mean for headlines 20 March 2025 Xiao Yang Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
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