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I don't think we can always avoid doom and gloom, but the idea is to always show hope and people can only see hope when they see other people surviving and thriving.
-It is important to show the facts and simplify them.
-Even if we are taking about difficult issues such as climate change, engage people by making them feel that they can do something about it. Create ways to do something and to help.
-Show hopeful stories that are inspiring.

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I think the trick is to focus on telling stories of resilience and solutions (including what social media users can do at their level), with human-centered content and good audiovisuals. Even if the issues involved are extremely challenging, offering hope is essential.

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Life stories show hope despite adversity
Artistic illustrations with messages of empowerment
Telling about solutions and good practices
Humor
Myths vs reality related to rights

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Focus on
- status quo
- why are we concerned
- what solutions are out there, what actions can we, you, all of us, decision makers etc. take

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Innovation, new trends, and new points of view, in order to attract and keep people's attention you need to introduce a new trend preferably something engageable competition a giveaway, voting, or anything that can add to people. Human interest stories reflecting unusual stories and events people did not know exists, for example, a family walking for 9 days to find a safe place, a woman who gave birth with wood burning as a source of light, or it can be an introduction to new technologies such as a robot that can identify people in the water from far distances (migrants), a technology that can help in reducing unwanted gases (climate change) and so on.

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Success stories might help mitigate the impact of doom and gloom messages online. Sharing what is being done towards the solution could help bring a more positive outlook on a given matter.

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We can concentrate on the positive aspect of a crisis situation or problem, eg using aspirational images showing green vegetation when talking about a drought situation; or happy faces of otherwise vulnerable persons.

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Despite having to raise issues that are not very pleasant (ie, child abuse, trafficking, violence and conflict, natural disasters, diseases, etc) -- I always endeavoured to end our messages with either (1) the positive impact of the organisation's work in these affected communities; or (2) how children are coping with the situation, and showing optimism, aka, signs of silver lining or light at the end of the tunnel. It's sometimes not possible, but we would always find a way to make the reader feel hopeful and wanting to care, share the story, talk about it with their inner circles, or donate to the programme. After all, readers should also be a part of each story.

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I would suggest using a very simple, honest and friendly language to exude empathy and support towards our audience. It is important to breakdown the notion of "You - We" as we are all on the same boat! Once they feel that it is not about them, instead, it is about "us", they tend to listen, engage, and interact.

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We try to phrase it positively and try to find a positive angle when sharing challenging situations.

We need to be transparent, but also try to be useful at the same time without taking an advantage of the situation. For example, in a natural hazard situation we wouldn't share a guideline on how to set up emergency telecommunication tools on social but would share our resources directly with the affected countries. Otherwise, it may seem we are promoting ourselves within an unfortunate situation. However, we can share lessons learnt, or success stories afterward when the situation calmed down on social to help others to be prepared in such cases.

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To avoid gloom and doom, we should always remember we are communicating with people and stick to the Human2Human approach. We should always remember that our goal is to communicate stories of hope and stories of inspiration.

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-Look for lessons learned and not "mistakes"
-Focus on progress rather than "achievements", most development issues require long term and intersectional change
-Focus on partnerships to create engagement
-Celebrate others' achievements (CSOs, grassroots organisations, individuals)
-Focus on WIIFMs for different communities and stakeholders
-Acknowledge the problem and move to the solutions

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Sanjeewa Warusawitharana UNICEF Sri Lanka

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Sanjeewa Warusawitharana UNICEF Sri Lanka

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We can humanize our messages and always be relevant for positive change we want to achieve.

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Communicating about sexual and reproductive health or gender based violence is not an easy task in a very conservative country. Therefore we use various form of arts as a different way/channel of communication (songs, short movies, photographs, painting, theater...) It softens the message somehow but it is still understood and perceived by the audience as less "provocative" and accepted.

We also use short but targeted messages and keep it human-centered.

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Traditional nature of UN business: The problem I see is that mostly how a common reader will take our information as dried and not that attractive, as we work in the social and humanitarian sector and people use social media mostly for fun.
For that animation videos, tiktoks, new ideas, surveys, fun activities and storytelling could be the ways for engaging communication

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It is critical to form message that is positive, relevant and easy to digest. When drafting messages, I try to avoid jargons and use everyday language in a positive tone with result-oriented contents.
When discussing issues and challenges, it is good to use numbers or quote a personality to make a point.

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Highlight solutions rather than focusing only on problems, which would provide audience with hope and motivation for action. For instance, we used to get less social reactions when we just posted the horrifying facts on desertification. Learning from the Global Communications Strategy, I proposed Climate Action Story initiative to feature innovative solutions to address desertification and other environmental issues, such as an innovative nature-based solutions for organic farming in Zambia. The series of positive stories collected around 20% increased engagements per social post.

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As communicators for the UN, we must ensure that while we try to project a human angle to the stories we tell, we must avoid sensationalising the suffering of our beneficiary communities. This is why, when we share the impact of our interventions on the lives of people and communities, we also highlight the root causes of the issues they are faced with and 'the good news' (how we can arrive at a more sustainable solution). Also, it s important to only share content/stories about people that have consented to it. This could help avoid backlash from the part of beneficiaries featured in our stories.

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We like to share ways that our research helps find new, creative solutions and give glimpses into our team members day to day lives - "behind the scenes".

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Through story telling. Instead of recounting facts about a particular crisis, we can tell a hopeful story showing solutions. UN communications should always be centered around a call to action. We can show people how to take a step to help overcome a certain crisis or help counter a certain issue etc

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We can successfully do that by highlighting the challenges accompanied with the solutions. Also, by addressing the impact of individual behaviour in creating better world and leaving no one behind.

Simplifying the messages and clarifying the action needed.

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Communication can be sensitive when being used to face people on how they behave and as usually said when the message is getting close to the bedroom. Human stories can help on being percutant, focus and accountable to change behaviours

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We focus on what our readers can practically do in their day to day life to address X,Y,Z challenge related to better being a responsible consumer, eating healthy, etc. This allows for connection and engagement and provides a certain degree of accountability and involvement in the solution.

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You always have to think about who you are and who your audience is. If you are a UN agency, you must remind everyone of your mission: to inform and accelerate development.

We follow the STAR method. Therefore, it is always best to inform on the Situation. Then, we inform on our Task as a society and as an organization. Thirdly, we highlight our Actions to accelerate recovery or development. Lastly, we inform on the overall results of our efforts.

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To communicate through a lens of hope and positivity, we can focus on solutions, positive impacts and things/efforts that are working as well as feature uplifting and human-centered personal stories. Messages can also highlight that despite challenges, what new opportunities exist and the way forward.

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When communicating on the refugee crisis, it's often challenging to maintain a brighter side of the message, but the necessity of it makes it inevitable.
- We normally focus on positive examples of refugees who have found a safe haven, good job or a good education opportunity in the host country.
- when communicating a message, it could be useful to also include some steps for the audience top do to help with the issue

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+ Put a positive spin on the information to share  along with a picture: [30% don't have access to..; means that 70 do have access so better to reflect that]
+ Testimonies for people, putting the focus on the people we are assisting, providing aid, etc. and not on us as UN workers.
+ Simple language, active words

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A good start would be ditching the UN jargon, endless acronyms, etc and centre our storytelling on human beings (or flora/fauna if need be). Certainly avoid doom-scrollers on our SM.

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Every doom and gloom fact has its flip side: a human or a group of people fighting against the odds to change it. Focusing on their stories, on how the UN can help them and make a difference while using short and relatable language is a great perspective to adopt. In addition, being lighthearted when the topic allows it, and using humor to surprise the audience with not-so-institutional content is a great way to engage followers and apply innovation to our everyday content.

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It is important to show results and possibilities of public action in order to explain what steps the public can take to improve its own situation with the help of the UN. Inspirational stories are also handy.

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Social Medias users are not ready for long and heavy content. So there is a need to be creative and put a human face on stories and let emotions out to convey messages and make an impact.

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Show smiles! We work for good! People triumph over adversity, people do good things for people, we are allowed to be happy! 

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1. Keep it human-centered.
2. Give figures. This is seen as legitimate and well researched.
3. Use quality content including pictures and videos.
4. Know the social media lingo and use it.
5. Use simple language for understanding.
6. Know the time to post.

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In short, these are content types we are trying to focus on:
- Human interest stories: We are focusing on communicating through human interest stories, hence showing the problem and giving the solution at the same time keeping people in the heart of our communication.
-Blog posts from staff members or interviews with head of sections: We are introducing our key programmatic staff members through interviews - hence giving human language to key challenges and the solutions we apply to solve those issues. Also, blog posts sharing emotional perspective, helps us to show people behind big organization.
- Positive vibes: We are also trying to season our content with positive flavors like "14-day challenge to go green", "30-day selfcare challenge for mothers", sharing cute/colorful illustrations with important short messages one can apply in their life easily.
- Simple language: We try to use the language that people usually communicate with each other, hence making our content more easy to digest and to follow.

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When communicating for the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) in Mali, I always bring on the first place the people, the beneficiaries, the impact of the project on their lives and their success in achieving peace. In short, a human approach.

The political, social, economic and security situation in Mali is getting worse day by day. But I do not communicate about the terrible situation that we are going through in the country, but about the inspirational stories that put a limit to so much misfortune.

Thus, I give preference to human lives, to their voices to tell the figures and their progress from a terrifying life to one free of violent conflict thanks to the Peacebuilding projects. And I do all of this with the aim that other people in the same or similar situations in Mali or surroundings sympathize, empathize, and be inspired by these testimonies and be willing to choose dialogue and peace rather than conflict.

On Twitter and Facebook, I post quotes and short videos about the testimonies of the beneficiaries of the projects who experience first-hand the positive impact of the United Nations on their lives and those of the people around them. Impactful stories. Currently, from Kayes (Mali) where I am on a field mission, I am working on these types of messages to publish on social networks.

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Share human-centered stories that bring hope and positivity despite the crises at stake.
Share scoops of people's views in a funny and casual way.
Create and promote PR Stunts. This has proven to be the most engaging and successful in Lebanon. Here's an example of two of our most successful Stunts as part of our #TakeAStep campaign on the SDGs: (1) the ATM Activation stunt to raise awareness on poverty in Lebanon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A3Ax1sSoBg&t=2s ; and (2) PR Stunt to raise awareness on Gender Equality: https://lebanon.un.org/en/181670-pr-stunt-raise-awareness-sdg-5-achieving-gender-equality

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United Nations Lebanon ATM activation stunt on poverty in Lebanon

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First, Put a human face, challenges faced, the success stories/the impact of the project. use simple language and inspirational quotes,  and avoid stereotypical imaging.

Secondly, present facts and date so we can understand the weight and urgency of the issue, also present the same for the impact while at the same time focusing on how we can we make a difference.

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Hilary Stauffer, OCHA Iraq: We always to make sure to add a list of how people can help -- donate, volunteer, learn more. We don't leave with with sad information no way to make a difference, 

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Hilary Stauffer, OCHA Iraq: We always to make sure to add a list of how people can help -- donate, volunteer, learn more. We don't leave with with sad information no way to make a difference, 

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Sandra Black, Communications Consultant, Maputo, Mozambique

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Sandra Black, Communications Consultant, Maputo, Mozambique

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Heavy information can be accompanied by success stories of how individuals who benefitted from UN programming persevered through challenging situations.
I appreciated the IOM campaign of photos of IDPS with a special personal item that they brought with them during displacement - it created personal interest and connection for viewers.

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Tips
Put a human face,  include humor is possible.
Think out the box and don't be afraid to break the rules.

Tactics
Social media is social be as simple as possible without any jargon
Loosen up a bit in WFP Zimbabwe every Friday we have #meettheteam team show colleagues behind the scene

Observations
Communication is a two way process check on you your audiences are reacting.

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Keep it 'human-centered'. Tell real stories. Give people solutions on what they can do and how they can change things, contribute, help. Avoiding doom and gloom does not mean whitewashing the world's troubles, everyone knows they exist. Making it meaningful, personal and insightful connects better and gives the audience a push for action.

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Ekaterina Polishchuk, UNV Europe and CIS

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Ekaterina Polishchuk, UNV Europe and CIS

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To all what is said, inspiration is super important. There should be touch and feel. Great examples - UNESCO Almaty about regional traditions. We also tried to use national saying and proverbs on our social media and they really stand out, in my opinion - more than people's stories.

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To avoid messages of doom and gloom we must present the facts and data but showing the human side and the impact; being purposeful and focused on the goal we want to achieve.

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Doom and gloom messages can become efficient tools for showing exactly the opposite.

Starting from an uncomfortable truth we can show what people and our Agency do to turn it around.

We need to be cautious on not turning a blind eye to the problem, which is the reason we're advocating for change in the first place.

Simply stating it can help us craft a a solution-led narrative that inspires and engages our audience.

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We design the content about our work and our interventions to be realistic but forward-looking, thus remaining hopeful. Working in a country with a difficult economic outlook, communicating a sense of hope is important to keep our audiences encouraged and continues the positive engagement with our partners. We also restore confidence in the nations' development direction.

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Show people, especially youths, how they can make a difference. Confronted to gloom prospective (climate change, water crises, humanitarian crises, wars etc..) we try to help our audience to be the change they want to see happening, eg sharing real people's stories of change, sharing tips, inspirationnal testimony.

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In addition to having positive messages, it's helpful to always convey messages in a hopeful tone and focus audience attention on the possibilities and the impact their present action can bring

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Focus on positive messages with visuals of real people with real stories

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First we need to use the story telling to inspire, to inform and educate
Second, positive messages must be formed and reach to target audiences
Third , to produce high quality photos and creative design using innovative approach

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·         Have clear messages to right audience

·         Turn UN jargons and technical language into easy to understand language with innovative approaches

·         Tell human stories with a positive approach

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In social media, less is more. We use short videos and gifs to catch and maintain our audience for global messages like UN international days. For campaigns, the best is to write a little history and try to combine with good photos or video images from the field if possible.

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We try to switch between tragic wake-up calls and positive success stories. Usually, negative messages work better for fundraising for us but we don't want to be associated with negative feelings.

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A good storytelling
Stories that inspire hope
A bit of good news to restore faith in humanity and the future
Collective stories are also good to feature not only the induvidual ones i think.

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I think it's important to find examples of good / positive steps that have been taken. If you can show positive step even if it's incrimental it highlights to people that something can be done and it's not just hopeless. Also depending on the audience if you can give a concrete example of something that can be done by them that will make a difference. Or even how by working on a challenge in the long run it will positively impact their contextual environment

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The glass half full approach works as it conveys the message of hope along with call to action. Moreover it also shows that progress has been made and further progress is also possible. E.g. We promote the companies who are taking steps to bridge the gender gap and safer workplaces, encouraging other companies to follow the same and we have seen this work.

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- Use story telling
- Positive messages
- Nice photos (spend time choosing visuals)
- Fun cards

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I post the problem but the achievements too. And also concrete goals that seem achievable.
When posting something doom or negative, I try to put a severe tone that exudes action. Like we are in the solution right now.

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Focus on positive examples where support has made a positive impact in someone’s life. This can even be done in a crisis context, for example, speaking with those internally displaced by conflict (eg Ukraine), and look at how UNDP (or other agency support) in partnership with local authorities and community members have helped ensure they have basic needs met and rights protected, that their children are safe, etc. at the end of such a piece, highlight the scale of the need to continue to provide this kind of support to inspire action.

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Focusing on (a) concrete new information, (b) actions that can help, (c) telling the story.

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We focus on the work FAO is doing to help the problem creating the doom and gloom, or the actions that need to be taken to overcome it. Call to action, human stories, stats on what is going well.

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I focus on actionable elements of the message that empower people to take action within their own spheres. I also prioritise human elements of the story that showcase UN impact, someone's resilience or his/her personal growth.

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While putting, to the front , human stories of solutions and success, you nurture hope and ambition without necessary "ignoring" the problems. Ex highlighting the success of a program of second chance schools by featuring positive stories of youth who regained hope and learned useful skills allows to address the problem of school drop off and youth unemployment but in a and productive positive way.

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While highlighting statistics and data concerning the problem, a way to avoid conveying gloomy messages might be to focus on success stories, highlighting the positive impact of an intervention that provided solutions to address that specific problem. This can include not only pieces of data on the amount of people who benefited from a specific intervention, but also quotes and pictures of the beneficiaries themselves that show the improved situation/condition/status thus conveying messages of hope for the future for instance.

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We make deliberate efforts to post about successful interventions and positive messages. If there is a negative message, we try to share solutions and tips on how to improve a situation.

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Although it's important to convey the reality on the ground, which can be very gloomy, we need to also highlight the solution. It's important to show hope and give a way to help to change the bad situation to the better. For example, we can say thousands of families lost their homes because of the heavy rains and we helped them with emergency shelters ...you can also help with 10$ to put a roof above their head.

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We usually focus on showcasing a youth-led solution to whichever challenge we are focusing on: this offers the audience, which for us is youth, motivational, inspirational and relatable experience. They see that another young person has seen the similar challenges they are facing, and has taken action.

We also try to put in lighter content that aims to educate and engage in the same time, for example word puzzles or quizzes.

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We post a variety of content that shows the impact of FAO's work around the world. Instead of focusing on the problem, we focus on what FAO and partners are doing to improve people´s lives. Also we provide data and information that is useful for audiences to learn and educate themselves on how to achieve a sustainable world free from hunger.

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Agnes Kante, UNAIDS Liaison Office, Addis Ababa

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Agnes Kante, UNAIDS Liaison Office, Addis Ababa

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Publishing real-life stories that outlines successes, using more positive language/wording and colors. As an example, UNAIDS launched "Through Positive Eyes" photo-storytelling project to share inspirational stories of people living with HIV and AIDS in 12 cities around the world.  https://survivors.unaids.org/

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Read about the struggles, fears and hopes of long-term HIV survivors and their fight to end the stigma and discrimination still attached to it today.

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We publish photos of UNICEF being on the ground to tackle some of the issues and support our messages with statistics to show the scale of our operations.

We also share 'success stories' with quotes from people who benefitted from our programmes.

We also offer solutions. For example, "this was you can do to protect yourself from COVID/ look after your mental health / reduce your carbon footprint, etc"

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To avoid 'doom and gloom' while using the socials, we always post messages with authentic stats from reports published and approved by legible institutions. In addition, posting messages from beneficiaries themselves about an impact or transformation they witnessed always helps with trust from the online audience and the public.

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In social networks these messages will always be present.
It is ideal to publish quality content frequently. If you have doubts about your content, think about the reaction of a major media outlet to what you are communicating.
The messages of our mandates must be in simple language, easy to understand.

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We try to convey impact stories with positive and bright images in communicating results, rather than focusing on the crisis and disaster alone.

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We can avoid 'doom and gloom' by putting out more positive messages and bring out stories where challenges have been tackled with innovative solutions.

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We can avoid messages of doom and gloom by showcasing people who have overcome challenges. We can also highlight messages about solutions rather than focusing on problems.

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Example: Here is how I avoid messages of doom and gloom when creating online messaging....