The X Algorithm

How the “For You” Algorithm Works

I went from 34 → 700 followers in 7 months. Knowing how the algorithm worked helped.

Here is what happens when you click ⌂ Home on 𝕏:

  1. 1500 candidate posts are sourced

    • 50% from people you follow (in-network)

      • Ranked by likelihood of engagement based on your past interactions

    • 50% from outside your network

      • Chosen based on 2 things

        1. Posts engaged by people you follow

        2. Posts engaged by people who like what you like

  2. The 1500 posts are ranked based on a 48M parameter neural network trained on interactions. The goal is to predict what YOU will most likely engage with based on your past behavior.

  3. Filtering

    • Removes posts from accounts you block or mute

    • Diversifies authors so you don’t see consecutive posts from the same author

    • Balances in-network and out-of-network content

    • Lowers scores of posts you’ve given negative feedback

    • Excludes out-of-network content without a 2nd degree connection

So how can you capitalize?

  1. Like, repost, reply, and follow intentionally. Choose to engage with:

    • Customers / potential customers

    • Peers / community / competition

    • On-brand inspiration, education, and humor

  2. Mute anyone that consistently doesn’t add value

  3. Don’t post consecutively, space out your posts

  4. Create posts your followers want to engage with

    • Stay on-brand, be known for something

    • Deliver like-worthy and repost-worthy value

    • Design interactive posts that encourage replies

Biggest Takeaways

Your post will not be shown to out-of-network people if your followers don’t engage first. So focus on making content for your followers.

No followers? Go out there and engage. Make people laugh, help them, celebrate them, earn their follow.

You will negatively be impacted if you post stream-of-conscious, low engagement, off-brand content. So cut the shit.

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