5 secrets to raise your news IQ, from an ex-journalist:
1. The media needs viral content for revenue. This is because they are selling an audience's attention. Today they are competing against more sources than ever. Viral content is the one thing that breaks through.
2. The most powerful emotion for virality is anger. Joy is strong, but nothing compares to the speed of sharing when people are mad. This is why provocateurs thrive.
3. Reality does not produce enough rage-bait. In most places, most of the time, people just want to go about their business. Controversies must be created.
4. Any event can be presented in a way to stoke anger when you know an audience's pains, biases, and fears.
5. If you wonder why you feel on edge all the time, this is why. Hate is what you are being fed. We all are hooked on it.
Rage is the sugar of the American mental diet. It's changing us no less than our bodies have changed. It's in everything.
Over time, the news will shape your internal reality. It will redefine your perception of the world. It will turn you into the ideal product: raw, distracted, malleable. Will you let it?
My aim is to engage people in thinking about the information they consume and how it changes them. If you found this thread interesting, please follow me @bfcarlson and give the first tweet an RT to share with others.
