South Kesteven District Council leader address viral clips on TikTok and X as he says people should read beyond the headlines to get to the real story

What does it take to qualify as a social media influencer? I only ask because last week I almost went viral on two platforms, writes South Kesteven District Council, Ashley Baxter (Ind).

This doesn't mean I caught the flu at a railway station but rather that some of my comments have received rather more attention than I anticipated.

The first involved an interview I had with Greatest Hits Radio about plans for a festival later this year to mark the centenary of Thatcher’s birth. I spoke to the reporter for about 10 minutes but my comments were edited down to less than 40 seconds. I only found out because my daughters’ friends from Liverpool and Newcastle sent messages advising “I’ve just seen your Dad on TikTok!”. Apparently, I have more than 12,000 likes.

Meanwhile, on the website formerly known as Twitter, I made a comment about the new mayor of Lincolnshire arriving late to a meeting we both attended in Grimsby. My short statement attracted well over a thousand expressions of approval which is well over a thousand more than I have received for almost anything else I have ever tweeted.

The reason I am telling you all this is not just click-bait to pique your curiosity to boost my social media channels and my ego. It is also to make some obvious points about the news these days.

More people than ever are scrolling through social media to find out what is going on. Despite the valiant attempts of journalists and editors to report important stories in a thoughtful and detailed manner, large numbers of people will only ever read the headlines. Far more still will never even see the headlines because an algorithm decides they would prefer to see animated cats falling into swimming pools.

Most newsworthy events are quite nuanced stories of human relationships, hard work and complicated events. Unfortunately, the 21st Century audience seems too busy for detailed or accurate explanations and would instead prefer a 30-second video or even a three-word slogan. Build Back Better. Stop the Boats. Take Back Control. Each of these statements are paradoxically both loaded and vacuous.

At South Kesteven, we are engaging on two very important matters which will each have an impact on every resident. On Thursday, the Local Plan consultation was launched and we need your feedback. We have some very difficult decisions ahead about housing and planning and we need communities to understand the issues and work with us.

This summer, we also need your feedback on how best to redraw local authority boundaries to replace county and district councils altogether. The options cannot be adequately explained via TikTok so please head to our website or one of our in-person events to tell us what you really think.