My silly cat video hit 11,000 views overnight and I finally saw how the algorithm picks winners
I posted a 12 second clip of my cat knocking a cup off the counter on a Tuesday night and forgot about it. By Wednesday morning it had 11,000 views, which is about 200 times more than anything else I've ever put up. I checked the timing and almost all the views came in one burst between 6 and 9am, which tells me the app tested it on a small group first and then pushed it hard when people kept watching to the end. The weird part is my other videos got better comments but nobody finished them, so watch time seems to matter way more than likes. Has anyone else noticed their stuff blowing up in a single morning window like that?
Checked the actual analytics on mine and the morning burst thing is real but it's not the app testing people. It's that 6 to 9am slot is when the most people are scrolling before work, so the app has way more eyes to shove your clip in front of. My dumbest videos always pop off in that window and my "good" ones die at night when everyone's asleep. The catch is that morning crowd has zero patience, so a 12 second clip is basically the perfect length for them.