Bad News Sells
By Gina
@Gina145 (3949)
Johannesburg, South Africa
December 30, 2016 5:45am CST
I find it quite depressing that there have been masses of posts here about the deaths of George Michael and Carrie Fisher, yet I couldn't find a single post mentioning Serena Williams's engagement to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.
Is it the usual case of bad news being more interesting than good news, or are people just not interested in the woman who is undoubtedly one of the best tennis players ever?
11 people like this
10 responses
@MALUSE (69373)
• Germany
30 Dec 16
Of course, bad news sell better than good news. This has always been the case.
If you read bad news, you feel good because you're better off or not struck by the same disaster. If you read good news and are in a bad situation, you become envious and perhaps even hateful.
4 people like this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
30 Dec 16
@Kandae11 It's possible that people didn't find out so quickly. I saw that Serena was trending when I visited Twitter to promote my latest blog post. If it weren't for that blog post I wouldn't have visited Twitter and I probably wouldn't have been aware of her engagement either.
1 person likes this
Serena William's won the Australian Open. That one I know. This is the first time I learned about her engagement.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
31 Dec 16
@Gina145 uumm its not like we are making lots of money here you know. lol
3 people like this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
31 Dec 16
@bunnybon7 I know. I'm referring more to sites like Bubblews where one post could make a lot of money.
1 person likes this
@cahaya1983 (11116)
• Malaysia
4 Jan 17
I only saw the engagement news briefly on TV. Anyway, I think it's not really the fact that people like sharing news about deaths, but maybe they're just more affected by certain news compared to others. I do agree that there are too many posts about that same topic on myLot though.
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
5 Jan 17
@cahaya1983 I'm not sure. They may just have found it boring.
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
4 Jan 17
@cahaya1983 I'm not sure whether or not people here like sharing news of deaths better than other things, but when it comes to selling newspapers, bad news certainly gets more attention than good news. I don't remember the details but I once read about an experiment in which a newspaper or magazine only reported good news. It didn't survive very long 
1 person likes this
@cahaya1983 (11116)
• Malaysia
5 Jan 17
@Gina145 I agree, bad news often get sensationalized and often go viral faster than good news. As for the experiment that you mentioned, maybe the newspaper didn't survive long because people didn't see it as realistic?
1 person likes this
@FayeHazel (40243)
• United States
9 Jan 17
Ah yes, that is unfortunate but I think it's also human nature to a point
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
9 Jan 17
@FayeHazel Unfortunately human nature does seem to work that way and it's only likely to get worse.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
31 Dec 16
it is just that people are so upset and in shock over them dieing. i have heard of people wondering why her mother got so much more attention, Debbie Reynolds the day after. But that is because she has been around much longer. then Carrie. plus your Serena will be around much longer lets hope and has more attention coming i think. this is the last hurrah for the ones passed on. i am sure if something terrible happens to her we will hear of that a lot too.
1 person likes this
@AbbyGreenhill (45494)
• United States
30 Dec 16
I don't consider those deaths to be bad news, sad yes. Not a fan of the tennis player so her engagement isn't something I would read about or write about.
1 person likes this
@Morleyhunt (21744)
• Canada
30 Dec 16
I'm not much of a celebrity watcher, I tend not to get too hung up on their comings and goings.
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
30 Dec 16
@Morleyhunt I'm not that much of a celebrity watcher either. However I do follow a couple of sports quite closely, tennis being one of them, so I was slightly interesting in Serena's engagement. But a lot of people take huge interest in celebrities, and I thought a topic trending on Twitter would get some attention at MyLot. Not this time though!
1 person likes this
@Deepizzaguy (102523)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
31 Dec 16
Sad to say bad news being drummed into our heads is what sells the national and local news of the day. Even ESPN is getting to the bad habit of drumming home the deaths of their sports stars like a drum. Give me a break.
