Some Examples of Social Videos
Video has become a very important part of every news organization’s social media use. While there are many ways to use video on social media, here are some examples of the type of content the social video team could create. [This was created for my social journalism course at the University of Tennessee, Fall 2018.]

Text over video
Putting text on top of b-roll or photos is the simplest and most common form of social video. It is popular, because it is simple for the mobile/social audience to watch. The text on screen means you don’t need audio and there is generally not a complex narrative that requires full attention.
In our work, this style of video could be used to answer a simple question or highlight an upcoming story or event.
The Guardian is one of the most progressive major news organizations when it comes to video use on social media. This is an example of how they use text over video in breaking news situations.
Mashable regularly uses this style of social video to introduce their audience to new tech products. They mix the company-provided footage with text explaining the product.
An extreme example of text over video is the UBER successful Tasty video series. While these are incredibly well produced, they are just video with text overlay.
Hybrid: Text over video + sound bite
News organizations also create hybrid social videos that combine text overlays with one or two soundbites to effectively create an online version of the broadcast VO/SOT — voice over with sound on tape.
Here is a great example from Makers, an online media organization that brands itself as feminist media brand for newsMAKERS, historyMAKERS, and troubleMAKERS. This high-production value social video combines archival video and text overlays with a single interview to create a compelling video, profiling a historical figure.
Behind-the-scenes video
Many news organization, especially local organizations, create quick behind-the-scenes update videos. This style of video can highlight things like: an editorial/planning meeting, an update on what stories the newsroom is working on during a day, or a single reporter updating their audience on a story they are working on.
Former WBIR (now ABC10 Sacramento) reporter Madison Wade consistently uses this style of video to connect to audience and allow for greater engagement. Here is a story update she did when covering the California wildfires recently.
There are a number of ways we could use updates in our coverage. For example, on Mondays after we decide what stories we’ll be covering for the week, we could produce a social video updating the audience. We can also do “conversation updates.” This type of behind-the-scenes video would be perfect if we had a video generating a lot of conversation. We could basically do a video summarizing what the audience is saying.
One important note, while these videos are generally fairly casual, we always want to take some time to plan out what’s going to be said and how we are going to share it online.
Explainer
The final type of video I’ll discuss in this post is the explainer video. Explainers seek to explain a concept or answer a single question, so of course this makes sense for the work we are doing.
Explainers can vary greatly in content and style. One of the most popular types of explainers on social media is the animated video with narration. This type of video was popularized by Vox, which made explainers one of their focal points when they launched. Here is an example explaining Bitcoin:
While complex animation is beyond the scope of this class, you can do simple animation using a combination of icons from the Noun Project, oversized text on screen and simple movements in Premiere. I have had past students, use this method to create explainers about changes in FAFSA requirements and the process that occurs after a sexual assault is reported on campus.
Animation, regardless of style, is labor heavy. We can also think about doing explainers where we pose a simple question to an expert, and they explain it on camera. NBC News experimented with this a few years ago with their “30 Seconds to Know” series. In the video below, astrophysicist Summer Ash explains the supermoon.
While this type of explainer won’t work for a lot of questions, we might think about this type of video to explain one part of a larger question as a way to promote a larger upcoming story.
Summary
These are just a few examples of social video. There are a countless number of ways to use video on social media. Regardless of type, it is important that we plan out what we will be doing and when we will be doing it. For example, if you want to do a “30 Seconds to Know” style explainer, you need to communicate that with the reporter. We also want to work with the social media producers to make sure our videos are being shared effectively.
