Algorithms and Clout-chasing is Making You Dumb

It's possible to make funny or thought provoking memes AND beat the algorithm

Truth... but that's more about sheer volume though. Unless you have observed another method?

Beating the algorithm is easy, and you're already halfway there - you make good memes....your timing sucks though.

I maybe post 2 memes a day....some days I get inspired and I might post a few more than that - but not all memes get points, posting to your own streams for example.

So, timing - this meme is about an hour early for prime-time. Too early and it ends up 2 or 3 pages down the "New" filtered list. Too late, and the prime-time audience has finished their after-work browsing and you're hoping to catch tomorrows crowd, in which case you'll be 4 or 5 pages down the "New" filtered list.

Shoot for submissions between 4-6PM central time.

Your target is above 10% like to view ratio. If you ht and hold 10% - your meme will probably make it to the front page of politics. The closer you get to 20%, the closer to the top of the politics stream you'll reach. The higher you get, the more views you'll get and the better your like ratio will be - and of course, the better your meme - the longer it'll stay at the top, exposing it to more eyeballs.

I'd like to say that I'm an expert - but I'm not. I'm just starting to figure it out.... The first half million points was a tough slog - getting to a million from there was relatively easy. It happened not too long ago, and without trying I picked up another 100k points on top of that.

Make good memes, people will follow you, defend your positions in comments and that will encourage debate. It's possible, and even relatively easy, to do well without being a hack.

I followed you, so that's a small step closer to success.

Oops, I almost forgot - you get points for up and down voting everything, so don't pass on the opportunity to vote, you gain points - so why not?

I'm not really in it for the points but I wasn't aware that there was a "prime time". That's an interesting observation! I'll try posting as you advise to see what happens. As a further observation, it seems like commenting and receiving a reply also nets points... which may explain some of the more juvenile, baiting comments that I've seen.

I really appreciate your response. It's not every day you find someone willing to pass along information so freely and objectively. I think I'll toss you a follow... you'll be my unofficial imgflip Obie-wan Kenobi... increasing my knowledge in the ways of the meme by following your example.

Have an awesome 4th of July weekend!

Oh yeah - you definitely get points for comments on your memes, which is why there are a lot of troll posts.

A fun stream to follow and post to is The_Think_Tank. There are some very thoughtful memes posted there, and if you come up with a good one - it might generate hundreds of comments. It's difficult to even know what will do well in that stream though - something you think will be a sure hit turns out to be a flop, and something you post thinking it will go nowhere might explode - it's a weird stream, but definitely interesting.

Happy 4th! Don't blow yourself up too much!

oi,pessoal

Ei irmão!