Anatomy of a Post

A good civic post has a first line, one point, a receipt, a call to action and the link in the right place. Most bad ones are missing the point and the receipt. Hashtags come last and only if they earn their spot.

The first line

Most readers see one or two lines before the platform cuts you off with "more." Third-party guides put Instagram's cutoff around 125 characters, and other apps fold long posts after a line or two as well. So the first line is the post for most people. Put the news there.

The "before" version teases. It asks the reader to do work and gives them nothing back. The "after" version gives them the story in two sentences. If they stop reading there, they still know what happened. If they care, they keep going. Teasers feel clever when you write them and get scrolled past when people read them.

Same rules as a news lede (the module on writing an article covers this at length): who did what, with a number, and when.

One point

A post makes one point. Not the rate hike and the closed session and the missing audit. Pick the strongest. Save the others for tomorrow (lesson 3 turns this into a whole week of posts). When you try to say three things in 280 characters, readers remember none of them.

Test it: can you say the point of your post out loud in one breath? "The council raised water rates 18 percent." Good. "The council did a bunch of stuff that's concerning and there's a pattern and also the audit." Split it up.

The receipt

This is what separates a civic writer from a guy with opinions. Every post that makes a claim should carry its proof in the post itself, where a reader can see it without clicking. These work best:

• A document image. Crop the page of the agenda packet, the budget line, the contract signature block. Draw a box around the number. Put the document name and page in the caption: "Millbrook FY2027 budget, page 14."
• A hard number with a source. "$412,600, per the Granite Paving invoice dated March 3." One number. Specific. Checkable.

Crop tightly. A full page of 9-point type shrunk to phone size is just gray. Show the line that matters and enough around it (the header, the date) that people can tell what it is. The module on images covers shooting and cropping documents.

Every major platform has an alt text field now. On X you tap the +ALT button on the uploaded image and get up to 1,000 characters. Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Bluesky and LinkedIn all have similar options, usually under "Alt text" or "Accessibility" when you add the image. Use it every time. It takes 30 seconds.

The call to action

Ask for one thing. Make it specific.

• Weak: Thoughts?
• Weak: Spread the word!
• Strong: Public comment on the rate hike is at 6 p.m. Nov. 12, City Hall. Written comments go to the city clerk by Nov. 10.
• Strong: Full story with the budget pages at the link below.

A civic writer's best call to action usually points readers at the public process: a meeting, a comment deadline, a records request they can file themselves. That is useful whatever side the reader is on, which keeps you credible with people who disagree with you.

Where the link goes

Platforms want people to stay. Most of them show link posts to fewer people, to some degree, and the rules move around. Here is what works as of October 2026:

• Facebook: Post the image and text. Many writers put the link in the first comment. Watch for the link limit Meta has been testing on Pages.
• X: Write a post that stands alone, then the link. X's own product lead told creators in October 2025 to write a solid caption with links. A bare link is the worst option.
• Instagram and TikTok: "Full story at the link in my bio." Keep the bio link pointed at the newest piece.
• Threads, Bluesky, Substack Notes, YouTube descriptions: Put the link right in the post. These are friendlier to links.
• LinkedIn: Link in the post body earns more clicks; link in the first comment may earn more reach. Pick what you care about (lesson 7 says: clicks).

Hashtags

On most platforms hashtags do much less than they did in 2015. Instagram cut the limit to five in December 2025 and says fewer, targeted tags do better. On Facebook and LinkedIn they barely matter. Use one or two when there is a tag people actually follow or search: a local news tag, an event tag, a bill number.

Write them in camel case: #MillbrookWaterRates, not #millbrookwaterrates. Screen readers can only tell where words break when each one starts with a capital, and sighted readers misread run-together tags too. Put hashtags and @mentions at the end of the post, so a screen reader is not reading out "hashtag" in the middle of your sentence.