“Some Good News” Replaces Social Media Blues
Published on February 2, 2022, at 5:08 p.m.
by Alice Helms.
It’s early March 2020. Everyone is stuck at home, and negative news is all-consuming in the world of the pandemic. While scrolling on social media, people begin to come across a new platform called “Some Good News.” Clicking on the page dedicated to the news source, they discover it’s a place for only good news amidst the constantly rising infection numbers.
John Krasinski, known best for his character Jim Halpert from “The Office,” created this platform and used his celebrity status to bring good news to the world in the early days of the pandemic. It seemed that overnight, this platform and its supporting social media pages grew to over 1 million viewers in attendance for their doses of good news. His heart had been in a good news site long before the pandemic began, and with inspiration from his wife, Emily Blunt, he started “Some Good News.” Fans could visit Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter to keep up with the web series, and news stories were directed right to Krasinski through his Twitter post.
The idea that the country needed a peaceful, joyful and loving place to cast their worries aside was embedded within “Some Good News.” Krasinski hoped that his audience and his country would watch as he began to “celebrate good things during this really weird time,” according to a Looper article. By reaching out to his followers, he was able to curate enough content full of good news to help them survive. This positivity movement also influenced the way his followers interacted on various social media platforms.
People submitted their heartwarming stories to Krasinski via Twitter using the hashtag #somegoodnews. During the original posts, his YouTube page reached over 72 million viewers and currently stands at 2.5 million subscribers. The TikTok account holds 1.3 million followers, and the videos with Krasinski stand at hundreds of thousands of views. Stories full of families, pets, love, laughter, tears and celebrations lifted millions of people into the light of living.
A few months after beginning his series, Krasinski decided to sell “Some Good News” to Viacom CBS. His decision was based on his dedication to other projects, such as “Jack Ryan,” a movie that was released in April 2021, in which he plays the lead character, according to USA Today.
Krasinski’s original plan was to inspire and uplift the country with brief stories told over time, and his work has continued to grow with CBS in the past year. Now, audiences can find the “Some Good News” series among other good-news-only sources, such as Poke My Heart, Positive News and Good News Network. News sources such as these have been around for years and aren’t planning on going away anytime soon. Studies show that “constant exposure to negative news can have a heavy impact on our mental health.” By adding good news into their daily lives through digital media, audiences can reduce their stress during the pandemic and other worrisome times.
