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Social Media Scrolling Virality Addon Textbook

A free, self-paced textbook in 7 chapters. Read a chapter, then drill it with the 60 companion flashcards using spaced repetition.

7 chapters · 60 cards · Updated

Chapters

  1. 1Ads, Auctions, and the Economics of Attention

    Social platforms make money by selling attention, and they do that through a structured process that looks, at a high level, like an auction. Every time there is an opportunity to...

  2. 2How Feeds Learn from Your Behavior

    Ranking systems in social media feeds learn from what you actually do, not just what you click. Dwell time, meaning how long you linger on a post even without liking or commenting,...

  3. 3Virality: How Content Spreads and Stops Spreading

    Virality is not magic; it is a pattern of metrics moving in the platform's favor fast enough to trigger broader distribution. Two ratios carry most of the weight. The share-to-view...

  4. 4Crafting Short-Form Video That Retains Viewers

    Because the first seconds determine whether a viewer swipes away, short-form video rewards a particular kind of structure. Creators often use storytelling compression: setup, confl...

  5. 5Integrity, Moderation, and the Misinformation Problem

    Some content is engineered to win at engagement metrics even when it does not genuinely help users. Engagement bait is a clear example: posts that ask readers to "comment YES" or "...

  6. 6Platform Differences in Discovery and Sharing

    The same kind of content can travel very differently depending on which surface it lives on. Stories and Reels, even when made by the same creator, have different consumption inten...

  7. 7The Attention Economy and Healthy Use

    It is worth stepping back to frame the whole system. The attention economy is a market in which many creators and products compete for a limited resource: human attention. Platform...

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