Unusual Virality Patterns
Why This Concise Story Went Viral in My Smallest Publication
Lessons for Writers and Readers from This Insightful Piece That Captured Massive Attention
As the chief editor of 15 publications on Medium, I am constantly deconstructing what makes a story work for a reader. My largest publication, followed by 165K readers, published thousands of stories in 2024, but the best and boosted ones hardly got 10000 views. But a story by 🌍 S M Mamunur Rahman got 559K views on Illumination in 2021. We miss those days.
However, a short yet mentally/emotionally sharp article in my new smallest publication, Magnetic Newsletter Pro, with only 327 followers, received around 40,000 views and is still trending. The irony is that the author, who has only 892 followers, and I, who has 102K, had very few viral articles in 2024 despite having a large social media following. I am happy with the story's performance and will share the possible secrets with you based on my analysis.
I analyzed 100+ stories that went viral in 2021, and since then, I have reviewed many more and gained insights from significant outliers in my publications. We have published over a million stories and now have some ideas about which ones have the potential for viral use…
