Duncan Lay: How an egg and Stephen King cracked the internet

• How will the final season of Game Of Thrones end?
• Madden is a star on the rise after Golden Globe win

So there is hope for social media after all.

For all those who are left horrified and depressed by a seemingly endless parade of hatred, annoying marketing campaigns and Kardashian body parts — sometimes all three at once — there comes good news.

First, a picture of an egg ­became the most-liked ­Instagram post ever.

It wasn’t even a good-looking egg.

It was just an ordinary egg doing nothing extraordinary but was propelled to the top by people-power, smashing the previous record-holder — Kylie Jenner’s picture of her baby — and leaving nude ­Kardashian pictures eating its dust. So to speak.

However, it does leave me a little scared as to what one of the Kardashian clan might try to do with an egg and a nude picture to try to reclaim the title …

Still, even better, Stephen King used Twitter to save a section in a newspaper.

The horror writer is prolific on Twitter and has amassed more than five million followers with comments that range from the cheeky to the caustic.

But perhaps his best work came when he stepped in to save the books section of a Portland newspaper, which is in America’s northwest. The paper was going to close its book review section unless it received 100 new subscribers.

MORE FROM DUNCAN LAY

Thanks to King taking up the cudgel on social media, it picked up more than 200.

Sure, he threatened to send Pennywise the clown around to the house of anyone who didn’t step up and do the right thing but I don’t think that should take anything away from the gesture.

It’s a sign that old and new media can work together and that celebrities can do more than just promote their self-branded muesli bars and diet books on the various ­platforms.

Book review sections in newspapers are vital.

Online, everything is for sale — up to and including five-star ­reviews for books.

Reading is a way to open minds and hearts.

Plus, it’s a scientifically proven fact that people who read books waste far less time photoshopping their selfies on Instagram.

Well, actually, I just made that up. But it certainly should be true.

More celebrities should follow the example of King.

And I don’t mean by terrifying people and giving them nightmares. Instead, use their social media profile to get ­people to put their money where their hashtag is and make life better.

Simply retweeting or “liking” something isn’t enough. You have to do something in the real world, like the King fans who became subscribers.

It’s a great move.

Now, if we could just get a Kardashian to suggest that sort of thing …