Aubrium Blog
Research, evidence and original analysis on how social platforms work — no listicles, no recycled advice.
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56 articles
Trial Reels is a free A/B test and nobody uses it as one
Instagram hands you a randomized exposure experiment with metrics at 24 hours. The internet treats it as a growth hack instead of the measurement tool it actually is.
Watch time is not one number — the system cards define it eight ways
Adam Mosseri calls watch time a top-three ranking signal. Meta's own system cards define it at least eight different ways, across three surfaces, with no published weights. The metric everyone optimizes for is not a single metric.
Watch-time optimization rewired what gets made
When platforms started ranking by retention, content changed. The two-second hook. The split-screen sludge. The ban on slow starts. This is how one ranking signal reshaped the grammar of short video, and what the research says it cost.
The watermark penalty: recycling your TikToks to Reels
Instagram has said three times, in public, that it will not recommend reels carrying a visible watermark. TikTok's version sits in a developer page almost nobody reads. Neither platform will tell you how big the penalty is.
Stories is not Feed, and almost nobody researches it
Every guide is about Reels and Feed. Stories runs on a different system with different signals, and it is the one surface built to reach people who already follow you.
What actually travels
The largest study of its kind found false stories spread faster, farther and deeper than true ones. Not because of bots. Because people respond to novelty and emotion.
YouTube by the numbers — revenue, reach, and the claims you cannot check
Alphabet reports over $60 billion in annual revenue. Pew finds 84% of US adults use it. YouTube claims 540,000 jobs. Here is what the filings actually say.
The setting between allowed and removed that Meta admits exists
Meta says shadowbanning is not real. It also publishes a framework for reducing the distribution of content that stays up. Both are true, and the second one is written down.
Does the "Made with AI" label cost you reach?
Meta and TikTok both label AI content, and creators assume the label buries the post. TikTok states in writing that labeling does not affect views. Meta's policies describe the label and never describe a penalty.
