These three true stories share a vital trait that can you can adopt to boost your mood — and your value and visibility with others — as an individual and for your organization: Thief Apologizes And Returns Money To Nashville Market 11 Years Later, How Google Maps Led To the Rescue of A Los Angles Stray Dog, and Valentine’s Gesture From Dead Husband To Wife Will Make You Melt.
The common trait? They are uplifting good news stories.
As Huffington Post has discovered good news coverage is a gold mine, which would not surprise Contagious author, Jonah Berger who found that we are most likely to share good news on social networks. The percentage of referral traffic from social channels to Huffington Post’s Good News section is much greater — almost three times more — than the amount of social referral traffic to their overall website. These stories boost readership, engagement and advertisers’ interest.
And Huffington Post’s Good News Facebook page already has almost 40,000 followers. As their Vice President of Global Lifestyle Communications and Partnerships, Amanda Schumacher enthused to me, “We’ve seen a lot of growth in the last two months as we’ve increasingly focused on follower engagement — we ask them questions, ask fans to send us photos, share inspirational quotes, happy facts of the day etc. We’ve transformed it from just a place for news updates from HuffPost Good News to a destination for sharing stories, insights and quotes that inspire awe — and sometimes spur others to emulate those actions and share them afterwards.”
1. Flourish Holding The Three-Faceted Gem of Sharing Good News
Sharing good news generates three nourishing benefits. You boost happiness and inclination towards acting in good will in yourself and in those who see the story, plus you shine in the reflected glow of the story you share.
As creating and sharing good news becomes a habit you may move beyond the momentary hedonic highs to a more enduring 
mood of eudaimonia. Seeing good news on television, for example, lifts one’s mood, according to Michelle Gielan, founder, of the Institute for Applied Positive Research, who speculates that watching such news on an ongoing basis can have a more prolonged effect. And I speculate that becoming a champion of good news sharing can make you a magnet, pulling others closer and bringing out their better side and yours, when around each other.
2. If You Are On The Look Out For Good News You’ll Find More
Helpfulness counts as good news and is an indelibly credible way for others to learn more about your organization. Keep an eye out for situations where your customers, employees or vendors create unexpected moments of happiness for others. They may discover how a practice or device in one situation could help yours, provide over-the-top help, respond heroically in a dire situation, or offere a valuable partnership or other opportunity.
“Ah” and “aha” -generating news can… (See the rest of the column at Forbes.)
