The inContact feed isn't trying to maximise time-on-site or stoke outrage. It's trying to surface writing that's actually worth reading from people you actually want to hear from. Knowing how it works should make you write more like yourself, not less.
What lifts a post
- Substantive replies— replies that take more than a sentence to write. One-line “Great post!” replies do not count. We measure conversations, not applause.
- Unique voices — five different people each writing one substantive reply lifts a post more than one person writing five.
- Readers actually staying— when readers open your post and stay for most of its estimated reading time, the feed notices. Bounces don't help.
- Real paragraphs — properly-formed paragraphs, varied sentence lengths, a personal voice. Length matters less than shape.
What holds a post back
- Engagement bait— “Agree or disagree?”, “Drop a 🔥 if…”, “Tag someone who…”, “Follow me for more…”. These actively reduce a post's reach. The feed treats them as evidence that the writing isn't doing the work itself.
- Emoji density — the occasional 🔥 is fine; emoji as sentence punctuation reads as performance and gets penalised.
- Hashtag spam — more than two or three hashtags and the post starts getting demoted.
- Formulaic openings— “Here's what I learned…”, “3 things I wish I knew…”, “Unpopular opinion:”, “Read that again…”. We're not trying to legislate style — these specific templates just demonstrably correlate with low-substance writing on every platform that's ever measured.
What does not matter
- How many followers you have.
- How many people clicked “like”.
- How recently you posted (you can't game your way to the top by posting hourly).
- Whether you're a founding member, an established voice, or someone arriving today.
How freshness works
A new post starts near the top of relevant feeds and decays over hours, not days. A post that's drawing real conversation stays near the top for as long as the conversation is alive. A post that doesn't land — no replies, no reading time — falls quickly. Nothing is “buried” forever; the feed's job is to spend your attention on what's most worth your time *now*.
Why the transparency
Hidden algorithms make writers anxious and then performative. When everyone knows what actually wins, the rational thing is to write better — not to write louder. That's the entire point of inContact.