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Social Media Scrolling Virality Textbook

A free, self-paced textbook in 6 chapters. Read a chapter, then drill it with the 120 companion flashcards using spaced repetition.

6 chapters · 120 cards · Updated

Chapters

  1. 1Platform Foundations

    The dominant business model of most social media platforms is selling attention, primarily through advertising. Because platforms are free to users, they need to keep people engage...

  2. 2How Recommendation Systems Work

    Recommendation systems operate in two main stages: candidate generation and ranking. Candidate generation retrieves a broad set of possible items from the platform's content invent...

  3. 3UX Design Patterns That Capture Attention

    Social platforms invest heavily in interface patterns that reduce the friction between a user and the next piece of content. Infinite scroll replaces the natural stopping cue of a...

  4. 4The Psychology of Scrolling

    Beneath the interface, social media use follows well-known psychological patterns. The classic habit loop has three parts: a cue, such as boredom, a notification, an awkward moment...

  5. 5Virality Mechanics on Short-Form Video

    Going viral on platforms like Instagram and Facebook Reels means a piece of content is shown well beyond its creator's usual audience, expanding rapidly through recommendation surf...

  6. 6Reducing Consumption and Designing Viral Content Responsibly

    On the consumption side, the same principles that make scrolling compelling can be inverted to reduce it. The first move is to identify the cue that triggers the habit loop — often...

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