--- title: 'Template: social media posts' url: https://propagandaarchive.org/write/template-social/ description: Social posts compete with everything else in someone's feed. You get a second or two to earn a stop, and the platforms reward emotion, which is exactly… section: Write --- ![Illustration: a redacted Cold War intelligence-dossier collage centred on a world map of influence operations, with the U.S. Capitol among the evidence.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/hero-home.jpg) [Write](https://propagandaarchive.org/write/) · Templates # Template: social media posts On this page Social posts compete with everything else in someone's feed. You get a second or two to earn a stop, and the platforms reward emotion, which is exactly where honest posts and manipulative ones start to look alike. These templates are built to travel without crossing the line. **Best for:** any platform. Check each platform's current length limits and political-ad rules before you post. **Pairs with:** [Template: flyer or leaflet](https://propagandaarchive.org/write/template-flyer/) (same message and image). ## Four formats ### 1. The single card (image + caption) `[IMAGE TEXT] Your core message, ≤ 8 words, large type. [CAPTION] Line 1: the hook (a number, a question or a moment). Line 2: the fact, with its source. Line 3: the action, with a link. [who is posting / paid for by, if applicable]` ### 2. The short thread (3–5 posts) `1/ Hook: one person or one surprising, sourced number. 2/ The problem, with its comparison. 3/ What would change it, concretely. 4/ The strongest objection, answered in one line. 5/ The action, with a link. Core message repeated.` ### 3. The short video script (30–45 seconds) `0–3 s Face to camera, or the place itself. Say the hook. 3–15 s Story of self or one person's moment. 15–30 s The fact and the fix, with the source on screen. 30–45 s The action. Core message. Who you are, on screen.` ### 4. The reply `Acknowledge the point that's fair. Give one sourced fact. Link. Stop.` ## Fill-in notes | Element | Write | Technique it uses | Keep it fair | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Hook | A real number, a real moment or a real question. | [Narrative](https://propagandaarchive.org/write/narrative/), [Negativity bias](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/negativity-bias/) | No bait-and-switch; the body must deliver what the hook promised ([Outrage bait](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/outrage-bait/)). | | Emotion | Hope, worry or anger that fits the facts. | [Emotional appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/write/emotion/), [Moral outrage](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/moral-outrage/) | Moral-emotional words spread faster (Brady et al., 2017), mostly within your own side. Don't let the fury become the product. | | Fact | One claim, one source, a link. | [Evidence and credibility](https://propagandaarchive.org/write/evidence/) | Screenshots of numbers need the source, not just the chart. | | Image | Real photo with permission, or a clear graphic. | [Framing](https://propagandaarchive.org/write/framing/) | No AI-made image of a real person or a real event ([Synthetic media](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/synthetic-media/)). Label AI-made illustrations. | | Action | One link, one verb. | Efficacy | One action. | | Who | Your name or your group's; "paid for by" on ads. | Credibility | Follow the platform's and your jurisdiction's disclosure rules. | | Sharing | Ask real supporters to share in their own words. | [Social proof](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/social-proof/) | Never pay people to post as if unprompted without disclosure, and never use fake or borrowed accounts ([Astroturfing](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/astroturf/); see the Rally Forge and Project Birmingham cases in [Anatomy of deception: how documented operations worked, and how to spot them](https://propagandaarchive.org/write/deception-anatomy/)). | ## Filled example: for *Invented case: Riverton's Measure 12, a half-cent sales tax for buses every ten minutes.* **Card.** Image text: *Buses every 10 minutes. Yes on 12.* Caption: > 40 minutes. That's how long you wait for the Route 4 right now. Measure 12 makes it 10, on six routes, from next September (Measure 12, sec. 3). Vote yes on 3 Nov: riverton.example/12 — Riverton Families for Transit **Thread.** > 1/ Last winter a Riverton parent missed her daughter's school concert because the Route 4 came 40 minutes late. 2/ Six Riverton routes run every 40 minutes. [1,400] north-ward households have no car (census, 2020). 3/ Measure 12 funds buses every 10 minutes on those routes. About [$X] a year per household (council fiscal note). 4/ "It'll hurt Main Street"? The price gap on a [$40] shop is [20¢], and most Main St customers live on the new routes. 5/ Vote yes on 12, 3 Nov. Buses every 10 minutes. Your evenings back. riverton.example/12 ## Filled example: against **Card.** Image text: *Keep Main Street fair. No on 12.* Caption: > 3 Main Street shops closed last year (business licence register). Measure 12 would put our sales tax [0.5 points] above the next county's, two miles away. Better buses, fairer funding: vote no, then back the county grant plan on the 14th. — Main Street First **Thread.** > 1/ Harlow Hardware has been on Main Street since 1988. Last year [three] of its neighbours closed. 2/ Measure 12 would make Riverton's sales tax [half a point] higher than the county line, two miles away (state tax tables). 3/ The county transport grant could fund two of the six routes with no new tax (county grant schedule). 4/ "Buses will bring shoppers downtown"? Maybe, but nobody's measured it, and Main St routes already run every [20] min. 5/ Vote no on 12, 3 Nov. Keep Main Street fair. riverton.example/main-street ## What the research says about sharing - **Moral-emotional language spreads.** Each moral-emotional word in a tweet on contested issues was associated with roughly 20% more retweets, mostly within the sender's own political group (Brady et al., 2017). Emotion helps you reach your side; it does less to reach the other. - **High-arousal emotion gets shared.** Awe, anger and anxiety beat sadness (Berger & Milkman, 2012). - **A moment's thought about accuracy reduces sharing of false claims.** Pennycook et al. (2021) found that prompting people to think about accuracy improved the quality of what they shared. Put your source in the post; it invites that moment. ## Before you post Run [Before you publish: the fair-play check](https://propagandaarchive.org/write/before-you-publish/). ## Sources - Brady, W. J. et al. (2017). Emotion shapes the diffusion of moralized content in social networks. *PNAS*, 114(28), 7313–7318. - Berger, J. & Milkman, K. L. (2012). What makes online content viral? *Journal of Marketing Research*, 49(2), 192–205. - Pennycook, G., Epstein, Z., Mosleh, M., Arechar, A. A., Eckles, D. & Rand, D. G. (2021). Shifting attention to accuracy can reduce misinformation online. *Nature*, 592, 590–595. ## Techniques [Outrage bait](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/outrage-bait/) [Astroturfing](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/astroturf/) ## Related - [Messaging](https://propagandaarchive.org/write/messaging/) - [Emotional appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/write/emotion/) - [Template: flyer or leaflet](https://propagandaarchive.org/write/template-flyer/) - [Before you publish: the fair-play check](https://propagandaarchive.org/write/before-you-publish/) - [Moral outrage](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/moral-outrage/)