A checklist for “Don’t tase me, bro!” news


The Andrew Meyer episode at the University of Florida has the social news phenomenon down to a checklist. It’s worth studying.

The social news formula (in no particular order):

  1. Post a video on Youtube. Chris Albrecht on NewTeeVee: Of course it’s there. What else would you do with it? Put it in a manila envelope and send it to your local paper? This isn’t the fifties. Or even the nineties.
  2. Raise awareness on Facebook.
  3. Do a Web site.
  4. Mainstream media coverage
  5. Blogger buzz happens.

Get used to covering news that happens this way.

Update: Mindy McAdams from on the UF campus