The Universal Laws of Virality (Tested Across 4 Platforms)

The exact framework that generated three million views in two weeks.

👋 Hey, it’s Andrew.

Two weeks ago, I posted about starting my ‘TechTok’ journey. Well, we’re now at 3 million views and 25,000 followers. It’s been a wild ride.

Today’s article is about exactly that. If you want to build your social media following in 2026, this is for you.

Beyond that, many of the founders in my network are going to South by Southwest this year. If you’re a founder and you’ll be around, you’re invited to my series of dinners at our private mansion.

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How to Engineer Virality

I’ve spent years building an audience of 240,000+ people across LinkedIn, X, and email. Along the way, I developed a theory: the principles of engineering virality apply universally across all social media platforms.

I wanted to test this. So I restarted my account, and spent the last 14 days speedrunning TikTok (a platform I’d never seriously used) to see if what worked everywhere else would work there too.

I made ~50 videos in 14 days. The result:

• 1,000 → 25,000+ followers

• 3,000,000+ total views

• 200,000+ likes, 26,000+ shares, and 55,000+ profile views

• 36% of my videos have 10,000+ views; one video hit 2,500,000+ views

The thesis held. Though there are nuances to each platform, the core principles of engineering virality are universal.

I hate gatekeeping, so here it is: full transparency on my method. If you want to build your social media audience in 2026, this might be the most valuable thing you read all year.

(Btw, if this was helpful and you’d like to see part two, please hit reply to let me know)

1. Curate your media diet ruthlessly

This is important and often overlooked. I'm not a full-time content creator (I spend my time running two companies), yet I produce over 60 pieces of content each week across TikTok, X, LinkedIn, and email. The reason it feels easy and frictionless is that I consistently read and consume curated, high-quality content.

Curate your feed and inbox well, and you'll create an engine that produces infinite content. The downside: you can never turn your brain off.

2. Always appeal to self-interest

Billions of people scroll daily to learn and be entertained. The only thing that will stop their scroll is if they believe a piece of content will (a) entertain them or (b) teach them something that may materially impact their life.

If you take the second path (I did), appeal to their most human desires: making/saving money, finding love, improving their health, or increasing status.

3. Leverage borrowed credibility until you build your own

When you first start on a new platform, you have zero credibility. You have to find ways to borrow it.

Cite and collaborate with credible sources: the news, academic institutions, and influential subject matter experts. Do this until you build your own credibility. Tim Ferriss used this approach to build his podcast. He called himself a 'curious beginner' until years later, he became an expert himself.

4. Master the hook (you have 3 seconds)

Everyone talks about the importance of the hook. Let me explain it in simple terms.

Think of your hook as a headline that stops the scroll. On LinkedIn, it’s the first sentence. On TikTok, the first 3 seconds. On YouTube, the title and thumbnail.

Do not underestimate this. Pros spend hours and dozens of iterations refining their hook until it’s perfect.

Your hook needs to be scroll-stopping, distinct, and emotionally charged. Aim to drive an emotional response in your viewer.

The way you package your content is just as important as the content itself.

5. Embrace the slippery slope

Your first sentence (hook) reels the viewer in. Your second sentence pulls them to the third. The third pushes them to the fourth. And so on.

The more they read, the more they’ll keep reading. Each sentence earns you the right to deliver the next one.

Think of your content like a slippery slope – once they start sliding, they can’t stop. This works for text and video.

6. Optimize for discussability

Social media platforms prioritize content that gets more user engagement. The clearest example: people debating in your comments.

Platforms reward engagement because it results in more time spent on the platform and increased monetization opportunities. Debate = distribution.

You can optimize for this by taking a strong stance and removing nuance. This might make you uncomfortable, but you can always discuss the nuance later in your content.

The content that performs best says what others are thinking but are afraid to say.

7. Study platform incentives and play by their rules

If you behave like a ‘good’ user, you will be rewarded with engagement and priority in the feed. Every platform has its nuances: LinkedIn is pushing video, TikTok has content gaps, X/Twitter favors vertical niches.

All my professional content creator friends (500k+) stay closely networked with the TikTok, LinkedIn, and Instagram creator teams to get product updates. This was new to me, but I went to my first LinkedIn creator event the other day and was immediately connected with a ‘creator manager’ who offered to help troubleshoot.

One thing that’s universal across all platforms: be the ‘reply guy.’ Don’t just broadcast your content, engage with others too.

8. Play different games at different stages

The method to the madness differs for 0→10k followers, 10k→100k, and 100k→1m. Each stage requires a new way of playing the game.

What works at 0 followers (high volume, testing hooks, riding trends) doesn’t work at 100k (deeper insights, consistent voice, community engagement).

Continue to learn and adapt as your audience grows. Don’t get stuck playing the same game over and over again.

9. Be remarkable (purple cow)

Lastly, it’s a common mistake for new content creators to over-index on tactical gimmicks, like trending music and overused hooks. These might get you short-term views, but they won’t build a lasting audience.

If I were to give you one tip, it’s this: optimize for sharing ideas that are truly valuable, unique, and remarkable. The tactics matter, but remarkable ideas matter more.

Read the best writers in your space. Study the greats who came before you. Have a pulse on culture and the topics that resonate with your community. Understand what makes content stick … it’s rarely the hook alone.

In a world of AI-generated content and endless copycats, being remarkable is the only sustainable advantage.

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My final advice: Ship volume and bet on video

I wish you the best of luck on your content creation journey. If this resonated and you’d like to read part two, hit reply and let me know.

Why TikTok, some might ask? Well, given where AI is heading, I believe that ‘verified’ forms of human will matter more than ever. As text-first platforms like LinkedIn become increasingly dominated by AI slop, I’m more bullish than ever on short-form video … it’s been my #1 priority this year.

Personal brand and audience will matter more in an AI-first world. More on that next time. And remember: volume negates luck.

Lastly, thanks to my creator friends: Jonathan, Nicole, Rickie, Austin, Colin, Jason, and Iqram, who have inspired and taught me something along the way.

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📌 Andrew’s Bookmarks

My favorite links to help you be wiser and more creative.

Why Everything is Becoming a Game by Gurwinder – From fitness streaks to follower counts, more of life now runs on points, rankings, and feedback loops. Gurwinder explains how platforms turn behavior into scoreboards, and how we slowly start optimizing for the metric instead of the meaning.

Taste for Makers by Paul Graham – PG argues that great builders aren’t technical but have taste, and taste isn’t random. Great taste across different disciplines converges on the same qualities like simplicity, timelessness, and utility

Dreams of Stability by Anu Atluru – Tech used to reward risk-taking. Now people chase safety at the top AI research labs, big companies, and even VC backing, because the middle is disappearing, and skills are getting cheaper.

Build Your Own Lore by Cameron Langford – I had the opportunity to get to know Cameron. She is a comms expert who helped take Palantir public, and here she talks about how to build your own lore. Great read if you are a founder or CEO on a big mission.

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