Kobe Transcends News

Even in our fractured society

 

From Axios: “What breaks through in a saturated, splintered media landscape is unexpected, emotional news.” (emphasis added)

In the week after the Jan. 26 helicopter accident, stories about the Bryants generated 208 million social-media interactions (likes, shares, comments) — more than coronavirus, impeachment, the Super Bowl, the Iowa caucuses and the Grammys combined.”

The tragedy didn’t generate the most news stories: The roughly 97,000 stories written about Kobe and Gianna in the past week are only about half the total for coronavirus stories (~174,000).”

The story had a huge cascading effect, as tributes drove new stories and hashtags. LeBron James’ reaction reinvigorated the news cycle.The hashtag #GirlDad went viral as reactions poured in about the relationship between Kobe and Gianna.

Obviously, this type of content can’t be manufactured, but the impulse to stop talking about it on your show the day after the story breaks is probably wrong. Clearly, your listeners were still interested.

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