My First Viral Video Taught Me a View Isn’t a View

just had my first viral video — and then I found out a view isn't actually a view. For me, viral meant about 8,000 views across Instagram and Facebook. 4x to 5x what I normally get. Here's what was different: I responded to breaking AI news. I confessed on camera that my view had changed — that I was wrong. I put words on the thumbnail for the first time. And instead of my water bottle, I held a little lock. Even Claude warned me: "This will probably do well, but it might not be good for you strategically." Then it got weirder. Instagram said 8,000 views… but only 2,900 unique viewers. How is that possible? So I dragged the screenshot into Gemini and asked. The answer: a view is not a view anymore. A view is an impression. Someone scrolls past, the autoplay fires — that counts. So now I'm wrestling with it. Do I keep covering news? The numbers say yes. But maybe I'm attracting the wrong audience. If you record regularly and you start noticing little trends like this — what do you do about it? This is Mike Thoughts from the Porch (from my morning walk this time). Let me know in the comments 👇 #SocialMediaExaminer #VideoMarketing #ContentCreation #MarketingTips

Source https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dR2qJUPjaOw

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