Heartbeat Hype

Jul 13, 2024

Quantify your popularity: Heartbeats tell the real story!

Move over likes, it's time to get heartbeats! Discover a new metric that measures true attention on your posts.

Do you guys think the number of likes on your Instagram post really shows how much attention it got? Think again.  

Sure, those 1,000 likes look impressive, but did anyone even read the caption?

Likes, likes, and more likes! We live in a world where a double-tap is supposed to signify engagement. But how many of those likes come from people who actually took the time to appreciate your post?

Well, Instagram also understands this and they have been switching their focus to different engagement metrics like 'shares' and 'saves'!

You may ask why though?

Think about it what takes more time? Hitting a like button or clicking the share button and then selecting the people you think might find this piece of content relevant? 

Instagram Algorithm was changed recently to focus on the 'shares' and 'saves' because those are better indicators of value that a particular post generates for users and of course, Instagram. 🤑

SocialMediaToday believes that algorithm drivers are now ranked in this order

If you are interested you can listen to Adam Mosseri talk about the changes in the Algorithm.

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A post shared by @barackobama

Okay okay! I get it shares are a more valuable metric

But I still think share rates would be low versus overall watch time, because in general people would spend more time consuming content themselves as compared to the amount of content they share with other people.

Let’s look at some data about what has happened to us in the past two decades.

Numbers

The average attention span of a human has decreased by 33% in the last 24 years.

Numbers

That's shorter than the attention span of a Goldfish.

Numbers

On social media platforms like Instagram the average time spent looking at a post is only about

That reminds me, we also have a functional instagram account for Ridiculous Design now, GO FOLLOW!

Sorry Sorry, enough cross-selling, coming back to the topic, since we are ridiculous we don’t think straight!  

As I mentioned before the Watch Time metric would be higher than any of the other metrics, right?

Let’s solve this with

Ridiculous Design

WHAT IF  

We add a more human element that truly reflects the amount of attention a post receives.

Introducing: Heartbeat Hype!  

Heartbeats, as a metric, emphasize the human connection and emotional response to content. This approach can transform the way we perceive and value online interactions, making them more meaningful and reflective of genuine interest.

As a rudimentary implementation, it is straightforward!  

Heartbeats can be calculated by:

Math class meets social media – who knew?

But What If we use real-time heartbeats using wearable devices?  

The future of social media engagement could involve real-time heart rate monitoring via wearable technology. This advancement would offer unprecedented insights into user engagement and emotional response, taking the concept of heartbeats to the next level.