Make something you could make again next week.

A one-off that spreads brings borrowed attention that leaves as fast as it arrived. A recognisable format brings the same people back, so each post starts from a higher floor than the last.

settled unmeasured short · long · image · text · community

One idea per post. If you can't say it in a sentence, it isn't ready.

Sharing requires the sharer to explain why. A post carrying three ideas gives them nothing to say, so it gets liked and not passed on.

settled undercut short · long · image · text · community

Aim for a specific feeling, not 'engaging'.

Posts that spread tend to provoke high-arousal responses — awe, delight, indignation, surprise. Interest alone is low-arousal and rarely moves anyone to share. The effect is real but the size varies enormously by audience.

mixed undercut short · image · text · community

Open on the most interesting moment, not the setup.

The decision to keep watching or reading is made almost immediately, and every platform measures it. Context can be filled in afterwards; attention cannot be recovered once lost.

settled unmeasured short · long · text

Concrete and specific beats clever and vague.

A reader decides in a glance whether a post is about something they care about. Wordplay hides the subject; specificity reveals it. This is the single most reliable improvement available to most posts.

settled no lift short · long · image · text · community

Open a loop — but close it.

Withholding creates a pull to keep watching. It also creates the strongest negative signal on any platform when the payoff doesn't arrive, and repeat viewers learn quickly. Practitioners disagree sharply on where the line sits.

contested no lift short · long · text

The thumbnail has to read at the size of a fingernail.

Almost everyone sees it small, on a phone, in a scrolling feed. Detail that reads on your monitor disappears entirely at delivery size.

settled no lift long · short · image

A number helps — when it's a real one.

Numbers signal scope and finish, which is why listicles persist. The effect is modest, decays as everyone does it, and reverses when the number is obviously padded.

mixed no lift long · text · image

Optimise for finishing, not for starting.

Every major platform weights completion and watch time far above the click. A high stop-rate on something nobody finishes teaches the algorithm the wrong lesson and suppresses the next post.

settled unmeasured short · long

Make it the shortest length that still lands.

Shorter usually helps completion, but a post cut below its own payoff performs worse than a longer one that delivers. Length is a consequence of the idea, not a target to hit.

mixed unmeasured short · long · text

Deliver the promise, then add one more thing.

Ending exactly on the payoff invites an immediate exit. A short additional beat after it gives the viewer a reason to stay to the end, which is the signal that matters.

mixed undercut short · long · text · community

Caption everything.

A large share of feed video is watched with sound off. Uncaptioned video is simply invisible to those viewers, and this is one of the few genuinely uncontested points in the whole field.

settled no lift short · long

Be present for the first hour.

Early engagement is how most platforms decide whether to widen distribution. Replying quickly raises the comment count and keeps the post surfacing. The effect is real; claims about its exact size usually aren't.

mixed unmeasured short · long · image · text · community

Post when your audience is awake. Beyond that, ignore the charts.

Universal 'best time to post' tables are among the most repeated and least supported claims in the field. Once audience size is controlled for, the effect largely disappears. Your own analytics beat any published chart.

contested unmeasured short · long · image · text · community

A few relevant tags. Nothing is gained by thirty.

Hashtag-count advice is close to pure folklore, and the tested claims that exist mostly find no effect. Tags help categorisation, not distribution.

folklore unmeasured short · image · text

Repurpose, but re-cut for each platform.

The same idea can work everywhere; the same file usually can't. Reposts carrying another platform's watermark or aspect ratio are demoted on most services.

mixed unmeasured short · image · text

Have the next one ready before the first one peaks.

A spike sends people looking for more. If there is nothing there, the attention disperses and does not come back. This is the most common and most costly mistake made by people who break out.

settled unmeasured short · long · image · text · community

Send them somewhere you own.

Reach on a platform is a lease that can be revoked by a ranking change. An email list, a newsletter, a site — anything with a URL you control — is the only way a spike becomes an audience.

settled unmeasured short · long · image · text · community

A rate you can sustain beats a sprint.

Posting more does raise your number of chances. It also degrades quality and burns people out, and the evidence for any specific cadence is weak. The sustainable rate is the one that matters.

contested unmeasured short · long · image · text