How news journalists use social media trends to shape stories and why PR pros must adapt, spotting trends to stay relevant and shaping stories for native formats.

In the hyper-evolving chaos of today’s media landscape, social media has morphed from a dissemination tool into the gatekeeper of what constitutes news. For media organisations struggling with declining newspaper readerships and ageing audiences, platforms like X, TikTok, and Instagram are no longer just side channels – they’re lifelines.

Think about it: How often do you see headlines on MailOnline about “outrage” or “excitement” over a Netflix release, only to discover the story is built on a tweet from someone named PantoLover59? Ridiculous? Maybe. But it’s a window into the new world order. Somewhere, an online journalist just ticked off another story on her To Do list and barely had to do much more than skim her feeds.

Strapped for resources, newsrooms now rely on social media like never before. The tech bros’ algorithms have become the replacement for the cardigan-wearing, finger-on-the-pulse newsroom veterans who once dictated the news cycle. The result? Newsdesks are desperate for engagement-ready content, and social media trends give them the guidance they crave – pre-tested, audience-approved, and ready to roll.

For PR professionals and small entrepreneurs, this means the old way of pitching is dying. Cold-calling? Forget it. Labour-intensive, hand-crafted story pitches? Maybe, but it’s hit and miss. Newsrooms want microwave-ready content – easy to digest, quick to publish, tried-and-tested and guaranteed to resonate with their social-savvy audiences.

If you’re still relying on the traditional PR playbook, you’re missing the boat. Social media platforms aren’t just a companion to the news, it’s where the agenda is shaped. Time for PR to adapt, streamline, and deliver.

Here’s three reasons why.

1. Social media as a built-in public interest gauge

In the age of virality, social media offers a unique advantage: instant feedback. The likes, shares, and comments on a post provide a real-time measure of public interest. 

As The Atlantic suggests the platforms provide an instant focus group, measuring public interest and engagement with each click. Journalists, often young and inexperienced, can gauge audience sentiment without conducting time-intensive surveys or focus groups, making social media an efficient tool for resource-strapped newsrooms.

This reliance on social media analytics is especially pronounced in smaller and local newsrooms that lack the resources for traditional investigative reporting and who rely on numbers to stay alive. Social media trends not only inform but often dictate editorial priorities, ensuring that published stories align with what’s already generating buzz online. Corporate want clicks.

And often the means of turbo-charging the metrics is – like it or not – the influencers. The successful ones have a feel for what they want to stick their name on it too so it’s a mutually supportive ecosystem if you can get your story-telling right.

2. A generational shift in newsrooms

The rise of millennial and Gen Z journalists is another hidden driving force behind this trend. These digital natives grew up with platforms like Twitter/X, Instagram, and TikTok as primary news sources. For them, integrating social media into the news-gathering process is second nature. News editors will hover across their channels, picking up potential stories and pitches. Who calls the newsdesk any more?

This cultural and technological fluency is reshaping editorial workflows. As Stanford University notes, younger generations “expect adaptability and innovation,” and they bring these expectations into newsrooms. The result? Social media isn’t just a tool; it’s a mindset.

An AI-invented "social media" newspaper

For instance, many younger journalists excel at creating short, engaging videos tailored to platforms like TikTok and Instagram. This shift has led to a reimagining of storytelling formats, with bite-sized, visually compelling content designed to hook online audiences.

If you do it for them – provide a toolkit of excerpts, graphics, facts, images and quotes – then they’re winning the volume posting game at work. Sending them a press release alone is like sending them a tin of alphabetti spaghetti and a fork. 

3. Capturing Gen-Z news audiences

Traditional media’s audience is ageing, and younger viewers are hard to reach through newspapers or nightly news broadcasts. Social media bridges this gap, offering a way to engage with Gen Z on their terms.

Deloitte’s Digital Consumer Trends survey found that 65 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds prefer social media as their primary news source. Platforms like TikTok are particularly effective in reaching this demographic. Media organisations such as NBCUniversal and CBS News in the US and the BBC and The Guardian in the UK have embraced this trend, creating short-form videos specifically for TikTok to connect with younger audiences.

Increasingly, outlets are leveraging the personalities of the journalists to close the gap between traditional, anonymous third party news and the way Gen-Z audiences pick their news sources, valuing personal connections over institutional brands.

As the Atlantic writes, “Critics can debate whether this kind of content is capital-J Journalism until the heat death of the universe, but the undeniable truth is that people, glued to their devices, like to consume information when it’s informally presented via parasocial relationships with influencers.”

How’s your impeccably formatted Word document press release looking now?

How to respond

Fast-moving PR operations can benefit immensely from the ability to spot and chase trends as they emerge on social media. Unlike traditional press releases, which often feel static and premeditated, leveraging viral moments or trending topics allows organisations to align their messages with the current public mood. In the best of circumstances, an influencer might simply run your video with a reaction. Job done. 

By staying agile, having a stockpile of ready-to-go facts, stories, graphics – and especially short form videos – PR teams can create dynamic narratives that resonate more deeply with both the media and their target audiences. 

Make the news

The shift to social media-driven agendas is both a reflection of changing audience habits and a response to newsroom challenges. By leveraging the strengths of social platforms – real-time feedback, generational expertise, and access to younger audiences – news organisations can remain relevant in a digital-first world. 

For the PR industry, this evolution underscores the importance of absorbing social media into organisational news strategies more fully, putting it in the vanguard of a PR campaign. 

By crafting stories that resonate on platforms where audiences already gather, using digital-native formats and invention, companies can amplify their visibility and influence the media agenda and reach that critical mass that tips a piece of news from social-based and on to the desks of commissioning editors.