Mama I made it! As a purely amateur hobbyist photographer, some content popped off this year! A bit surprising because I posted less. Here's what did it:
OVER 5000 views! This really made me laugh. I can go hike to the most scenic location, spend hours waiting for sunrise/sunset, go home and edit edit edit edit to produce a certified banger...and not much happens. A few iPhone snapshots of the hot new restaurant in town - immediately tons of views! All I wanted to do was help the new local spot, they'd posted on IG asking for people to review since they'd only been open a few days.
People really love food. And I caught the hype wave of the new spot.
More than pics
It wasn't just photos that took off - I accidentally made a troll post cause I was excited using the PS5 content share feature. Really meant this to just be another thing that went out into the either, but then it hit 10k views, 50k...100k..and finally landed at 845,000 views.
Permanent Proof:
Why did this take off? I came to a few conclusions...
- Modern
- Wukong was mega HYPED on release. I think I caught the wave / algorithm picking it up.
- Dumb obvious question
- I was actually curious, but after seeing it used so much in the last few games, asked a generally stupid question. They were quick to tell me it's a "immersive" way to hide a loading screen.
- A lot of people called me out for "not playing anything recently"
- Gamers are wildly opinionated
- There was some RAGE in the comments.
To test my theories, I posted this:
Way less views, but comments were engaging! It kind of worked. Seemed like everyone was loving Wukong, but I just didn't get it. "Tiktok style boss rush" was some stream of consciousness description that got people heated (or engaged enough to comment). Maybe video was the answer to the threads algorithm?
On more attempt
How about some positivity for just a great game?
I was on a roll with this loading screen thing - thought I'd do some more captured content post about it. And here the game was certainly trolling me as it was 100% NOT a loading screen.
141K views. Maybe I just hit some threads fun here, but overall it seemed like a great test.
Takeaways
What'd I learn about content in 2024?
Happy to be an amateur
It's fun not to put much pressure on it and just create things for fun. It seems to resonate a little more, especially showcasing the things I like (food, games, the outdoors).
What resonates with people
I remember laughing with a friend one time on how I'd post (in my opinion) incredible ski videos and get a few likes, but then a picture of food and tons of friends would reach out asking about it. She commented "The skiing is just un-relateable to me...I can't tell if it's great or easy or hard or not...but basically it all looks the same to me. Food...I could be a part of that".
Gotta find the angle that makes someone want to save it / engage with it.
Engagement bait works, but honestly doesn't feel that good
It was cool to see all the views and comments. Engagement 🚀! But it really didn't feel that rewarding. It wasn't helping people or providing anything useful (maybe entertainment?). It was just a way for me feel like the algorithm liked me.
