Loading…

Had a wild day last tuesday where my instagram reel hit 2 million views out of nowhere | Algorithm Watch - Vivisector

Had a wild day last tuesday where my instagram reel hit 2 million views out of nowhere

I posted this dumb 15 second clip of my cat knocking over a plant and it just exploded. By noon I had like 50k notifications and my phone was basically melting. I think the algorithm pushed it because the first 30 people who saw it all hit like and shared it within 10 minutes. Has anyone else had a post randomly take off like that and could you figure out what triggered it?

3 comments

3 Comments

emma_wells833mo ago

What kicked off for me was this super random recipe video where I just filmed myself making toast with like five ingredients, nothing fancy. The algorithm hit early because some foodie accounts reposted it without asking, which gave it that initial push you’re talking about. I noticed that engagement in the first hour was ridiculous, like comments flooding in about how easy it looked, and that seemed to signal the algorithm to keep showing it. The big thing for me was that people started tagging their friends in the comments, which made it spread way further than I ever expected. Honestly, it’s wild how a simple cat video can catch that perfect wave of early shares and just take off.

emma_garcia3mo ago

phone was basically melting" - yeah I felt that. Same thing happened to me with a video of my ceiling fan. No joke, I just filmed it spinning for like ten seconds because I was bored and it got a million views overnight. The notifications were nonstop and I had to put my phone on airplane mode for a few hours. It's weird how the algorithm just picks something random and runs with it. I still have no clue what made that fan video special compared to anything else I post. But the stress part is real, it definitely takes the fun out of it when you aren't expecting it.

wendy_lee483mo ago

Omg yes this happened to me a few months ago with a video of my dog chasing his tail. Idk what it was but the first few people who saw it went crazy with the shares and it just took off from there. I remember refreshing my phone every few minutes and seeing the view count jump by like a thousand each time. It was honestly kind of stressful because I didn't plan for it or anything, my phone was buzzing so much I had to turn off notifications for a whole day. Still no clue what made that specific one blow up compared to my other stuff.