Algorithm (social media)
The ranking system that decides which posts each person sees and in what order, based on predicted engagement.
A social media algorithm is the ranking model that picks what shows up in someone's feed and in what order. Instead of pure reverse-chronological, it predicts how likely you are to engage with each candidate post and sorts accordingly — which is what determines a post's organic reach.
Early signals matter most: posts that earn quick interactions get shown to more people, so engagement rate in the first hour acts as a multiplier. Algorithms also weight things like dwell time and relationship strength, and can suppress content they distrust — the murkier end of which is a shadowban.
TipYou can work with the algorithm by posting when your audience is active and showing up reliably — see best time to post and posting consistency.
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