Most viral posts on X (Twitter) aren't lucky. They follow a few shapes that make people do one of two things: reply, or share. We collect viral posts every day and sort them by shape. Here are the ones that keep working, each with a line in that shape you can borrow.
1. Posts people have to answer
These spread through replies. Everyone has an answer about themselves, it takes a few words, and a little embarrassment makes it fun.
- One word. “Describe your group chat in one word. I'll go first: unhinged.”
- Be honest. “Be honest, do you rehearse conversations in the shower?”
- Do you guys also. “do you guys also rehearse ordering food in your head first”
- Most useless. “What's your most useless skill? Mine: I can tell who's typing by the dots.”
- How cooked. “If your search history was posted publicly for 24 hours, how cooked are you?”
The originals behind these shapes got from a few hundred to 250,000 likes. The pattern: ask about the reader, not about the news, and go first with your own answer when you can.
2. Posts people have to share
These spread through reposts and quotes: a small truth everyone has felt but never put in words.
- Every time. “Every time I'm in a hurry, the person ahead of me is paying in coins.”
- That feeling. “that burst of productivity that starts 5 minutes before bed”
- Inflation. “Due to inflation my therapy is now a voice note to myself.”
- Pros and cons. “working from home: pros: no commute. cons: no pants, no boundaries, no…”
- Real X is. “real pressure is when your friend says ‘no pressure’.”
How to post it
- Keep it short. One idea, usually under 20 words. If it needs explaining, it won't spread.
- Specific beats clever. “paying in coins” is funnier than “being slow”.
- No link in the post. Many accounts see less reach on posts with links. Put the link in a reply under your post.
- Stay for the first hour. Reply to early replies; a busy thread gets shown to more people.
- Post a lot, and keep what works. Most posts don't take off. The shapes raise your odds, they don't guarantee it.
Out of ideas?
Shitpost Gacha is a random tweet generator in card form: pull numbered joke cards, post the funny ones as text or as an image, and keep the rest. New cards arrive every day, and the ones players don't like retire on their own.