@article{2026:klein:news_softe,
title = {News softening as a strategy for adapting to platform logics. Introducing the concept of social news softening.},
year = {2026},
note = {News softening describes a journalistic strategy to attract maximum
attention with the help of certain content (soft news) or a soft style
– a goal also included in the (algorithm-based) logics of social
platforms. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence on the
extent to which adapting news media to social media logic is
accompanied by news softening, particularly due to the lack of a
conceptual basis. The traditional softening concept (Reinemann et al.,
2012), developed based on mass media logic and not considering social
media-specific softening aspects, cannot be applied to social
platforms without running the risk of underestimating the actual
degree of news softening. For this reason, this paper develops the
concept of “social news softening” based on the conceptualization
of social media logic by Hermida and Mellado (2020), from which it
derives adaptation strategies. The new concept includes five
dimensions – emotionality, subjectivity, individualization framing,
sensational framing, and audience orientation – and can be
understood as a conceptual extension of the traditional concept,
supplementing its dimensions and characteristics (many of which are
still relevant to social media) with social media-specific ones. In
addition, this paper provides considerations on how platform-specific
affordances impact social news softening on distinct platforms. Thus,
this paper is an important starting point for urgently needed
empirical studies on news softening in the context of platformization
processes and the adaptation of news media to the logics of social
media. Therefore, this paper links softening research with current
issues in journalism and media performance research.},
journal = {SCM Studies in Communication and Media},
pages = {45--66},
author = {Klein, Miriam},
volume = {15},
number = {1}
}