Social Media Algorithms – A Slice of My Trash, Travels and Tots

MY REEL WENT VIRAL: The Content Creator Mindset

A couple weeks ago one of my Instagram reels went viral on BrightCardboardLife. I shared it with my 300 Instagram followers and a week later I had approximately 260,000 views and around 22 thousand likes. Today it sits around 350,000 views and continues to grow. For a nano Instagram account, that reel is definitely on the viral track.

Since I went viral back in 2011 on a super small YouTube account, I asked Gemini what are the chances of going viral again in June 2026? I was surprised to find out that going viral (especially for small accounts) is quite rare. The chances of going viral twice on two different platforms is 1 chance in 160 million.

GOING VIRAL A SECOND TIME made me want to dig deeper into the digital creator spaces and the mechanics and metrics of these platforms. I wanted to learn as much as I could. Here are a few thoughts that I distilled—albeit roughly—after some of my research.

1.Even though the social media and content creator space appears to be saturated, always remember this: it is always going to be easier to scroll and do nothing than to create digital content. This has been my mantra for years.

2. Coming up with your own ideas, executing them until you reach a “physical thing” or an output is going to be more of a hurdle than picking up your phone and scrolling through social media, listening to your favorite YouTube podcast or simply reposting someone else’s meme, reel or political rant. This means people who consistently create than consume will always have the upper hand.

3. There are two major psychological factors at play for a digital content creator: The FIRST psychological hurdle is this: There is the stigma or “negative perception” about digital content creation—especially by people whom you interact with in everyday life. These are the people who lurk or find out about your content.

These people think digital content creation “isn’t really work” and so they undervalue it and disrespect anyone struggling to create content who hasn’t “Made it yet”. For the bigger accounts they chalk those up to “Well, they have a big account and they know what they are doing” etc. Or, they say “Well they’re professionals and they’re making money, so that’s different.”

The SECOND psychological hurdle is this: Most people are WAY too embarrassed, fragile and vulnerable to be a social media content creator. First, you have those friends and family who are actively discouraging you and gossiping behind your back as you make your efforts. Even more, you have strangers who, in the comment section, will publicly humiliate your own digital creations—your reels, photos, text or blog posts or any ORIGINAL digital media YOU produce.

4. But here are some very interesting facts you should consider:

Facebook is largely considered an “empty room” by many people. We see it as dead. Nobody goes there anymore, right? All our close friends BARELY POST ANYMOE and when they do, they repost someone else’s text post (copy pasta) reel, article or goofy picture

The surprising truth is that while it appears that Facebook is largely a ghost town, the statistics reveal that it is STILL A HEAVILY USED PLATFORM. The same number of people are still passively scrolling but FEWER PEOPLE ARE USING THIS PLATFORM TO POST.

Do you know what this means? It means that you can CAPITALIZE on the SECRET LURKER PHENOMENON that is going on behind the scenes. As I type these words, I want you to:

Spend less than 1% of your time checking your views or follower numbers. These numbers fluctuate.

Spend 99% of your time creating, curating and adjusting your content. Keep trying variations to see what works best for you. Try reels, photos, solid backgrounds with text, intriguing quotes, photos with BOLD WORDS to freeze the scroll.

Be fearless to post. You know why? I can guarantee that almost everyone is scrolling by so fast by mine (and your) posts almost instantly. The statistics reveal that most content is swiped by in 1.5 to 3 seconds—and 3 seconds is long these days. The hardest part is getting someone to idle on your piece of digital content for more than 4 seconds.

Always come up with original ideas; post your own impressions of the world around you—whether it be your children, your home/yard, a block of text about an idea you were thinking about…how you’re adapting to a new diet. THE LIST IS ENDLESS. Just make sure it is coming from YOU and you are offering your own “Take on it”. The common theme is YOUR OWN ORIGINAL THOUGHTS/PICTURES/VIDEOS/CONTENT.

STOP REPOSTING OTHER PEOPLE’S CONTENT ON YOUR PUBLIC ACCOUNT. If you want to grow on any social media platform these days, your content must be traced back to your own mind. Meta (the parent company who owns Facebook and Instagram) actively suppresses reposting other people’s text blurbs (copypasta), articles, reels, political articles or funny memes. Meta marks you as a REPOSTER. In other words, you get flagged by the system as not generating your own original content and only a very small group of people (if any) will ever see your posts. Your chances for growth are stagnated.

Making content is hit or miss. Some will resonate with people and do well in views and shares. Other pieces of content will fizzle out quickly. Just remember that this is true for any digital creator, even the most successful ones.

Be consistent with your digital content production. Remember you are creating a digital asset that will serve as future digital real estate. Digital assets can be leveraged for advertising, or creating a funnel towards other things that you might be selling. Pushing traffic towards an underlying business, book or piece of artwork is sometimes the ultimate strategy. BUT YOU MUST BUILD A DIGITAL ASSET FIRST TO GET ANY TRAFFIC AT ALL. Do you get how this works?

Do not worry as much about follower numbers as you are about organic views and traffic. You want your content to reach engaged viewers. If the data reveal few views—even your own followers are unlikely to be interested in your content and the algorithm will give you a bad score for your account or at least for the next posts.

The 2026 Algorithm focuses on raw, unpolished content. This content is vulnerable. It can seem embarrassing or humiliating. The EMBARRASMENT TAX happens to anyone who is actively building digital content in the face of judgmental onlookers.

HOW INFLUENCERS LIKE BROOKE RAYBOULD THINK ABOUT THE INTERNET

When I think about extracting wealth from everyday situations—from what you already have on hand, I think of Mom influencers like Brooke Raybould.

She was recommended to me in 2021 because of her location at the time. She was living in Virginia and we live in West Virginia. She posted lots of content related to her day-to-day life of raising 3 boys (she now has 5). She would showcase her morning routine, waking up at 5am, cold showers, journaling and lots of prep before her boys woke up. She was into fitness, exercise and healthy food. I appreciated her emphasis on hard work and self discipline.

I really enjoyed her crisp, professional content. It was highly digestible but somehow motivating. What? A mom just discussing her life on the internet and she was getting popular and likely making cash from advertisers and/or affiliate marketers? She would discuss Andrew Huberman—someone I was already listening to and learning from. It made me think—wow, I could be her! I already do most of what she is parroting and I have 3 young kids too! It kind of gave me hope as a stay-at-home Mom who only works 2 days each week.

Because she had such “Big Picture” thinking, she had a vision for herself and her family.

She found a way to tap into the digital space. You could tell her mind was whirling—how can I extract money from all of these Moms—not to mention lurkers, passive scrollers, gawkers and from the “This is cringe content” folks? These are the same people who have ZERO energy to use on their own content output but somehow have loads of time to scroll, offer lengthy detailed opinions, and basically sit back and judge a successful enterprise on a day-to-day basis.

Brooke could see that so many people were simply using the internet as a passive, click and scroll place—not as a place for wealth growth. She could see people clicking on her pretty pictures and cute videos of her boys. All she needed to do was create and cultivate her “Mom Brand” so to speak, and voila—even more cash pouring in as advertisers and marketers took notice!

There are psychological elements of comparison that Mom influencers unintentionally (or intentionally) tap into. Because humans are basically hardwired to compare, an influencer like Brooke Raybould can trigger this and gain a huge audience as well as advertisers and affiliate endorsement deals.

She writes her own Disney Family Guides and offers other courses. She is also in the throes of a book deal right now (2026) because she can use her big influence to sell more copies of her book to her followers first and then this pushes her book up in search for non-Followers and just regular readers of self-help books. Who knows, because of her 1.3 million following on Instagram, her self-help book could become a New York Times Best seller.

The reason I think I’m especially intrigued by Brooke as a sensational, money-making Mom influencer, is because I had a time in 2011 where I suddenly started to make money by posting videos on YouTube.

At the time I honestly HAD NO IDEA that I could make money posting YouTube videos—let alone hundreds of dollars each month! Once I started making money on YouTube, I saw the entire internet differently. It was motivating to make YouTube videos because I was paid for it! I received endless negativity, anxiety-riddling discomfort and the DISLIKE BAR was huge then!

Amidst all criticism, Brooke Raybould has certainly discovered this same secret that I discovered. While we all tacitly know they get $$$ we don’t discuss it enough. We almost act as if they are just “doing it for fun” or “as a hobby” when we go onto Instagram and are confronted with their content. It’s there. It seems harmless, so we “dwell” for a bit. Dwell time is the most CRUCIAL METRIC in the META 2026 Algorithm.

Some of us don’t mind the realization because we are often mindless in how we eat as well as how we use our time. Brooke Raybould is INSANELY motivated by the underlying dynamics of the internet (and by human nature). She knows how to extract resources there. She jumped into her entrepreneurial suit in full force. While people laugh at how she “displays her children for all to see” she is laughing all the way to the bank.

Mom influencers AND THE MOM/FAMILY NICHE ARE THE MOST LUCRATIVE CATEGORY ON THE INTERNET RIGHT NOW BECAUSE THE MAJORITY OF HOUSEHOLD PURCHASES ARE DONE BY MOMS. 2026

But if we could realize how precious time was, wouldn’t we just be focusing on creating our own content on a regular basis? Someone like Brooke WOULD NOT BE SUCCESSFUL if every single person was busily creating their own content and diving deeper into their blog writing, posting their own unique carousels, pictures or reels on Instagram or thinking of well-written, thoughtful blurbs on their Facebook page. All of these have the ability to gain traction, but they require consistency and emotional regulation (because you won’t grow fast and it can be a struggle before your account experiences the “Snow Ball” effect).

When your time and energy is used on the act of creation, it takes time away from scrolling. I can guarantee large content creators spend little if any time on the content of others.

That’s right, your time and attention is basically paying for these big influencers. They are making money from how you use your time.

Here’s the thing about Brooke Raybould, she discovered early on how much her time online could be worth if she used it to “CREATE HERSELF” instead of use it to consume media. This is the deepest realization that we all know but refuse to admit in our own lives. Meanwhile, we all still seem to want to get rich.

Even though the social media and content creator space appears to be saturated, always remember this: it is always going to be easier to scroll and do nothing than to create content.

Coming up with your own ideas, executing them until you reach a “physical thing”—an output, is going to be more of a hurdle. There’s just more friction involved. Brooke Raybould becoming her own “MOM BRAND” was a tough hurdle. She worked hard with her content. She continually thought of unique ways to use herself, her kids and her everyday life as a means to “keep people dwelling on the internet” and to keep advertises or affiliate marketing businesses interested. She has gorgeous blue eyes. Her children are adorable and well-mannered. She has a beautiful house in Texas. All of these things are crucial to her success, but she still has to put the work into making regular digital content and USING HER EXISTING MATERIALS.

It’s just easier to pick up your phone and scroll through what’s already out there. Ready-to-click on podcasts will always be easier to listen to. Facebook will always be ready for a quick scroll.

Because of the work required to create social media content and BECAUSE OF BOTH THE STIGMA OF BEING A CONTENT CREATOR and the common (negative perception) that creating social media is “nothing” or “isn’t working” or “isn’t actually a job”, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE SOME KIND OF SPACE FOR CONTENT CREATORS. It still requires some degree of effort to keep people on the platform and to keep them engaged.

There are still too many people on the planet who are embarrassed to put themselves out there and make mistakes, expose their ideas and content to judging family and friends (who love to gossip about your content behind your back) or give you those quiet looks of calm rejection when they encounter you in person.

You have to sit and think about why you desire wealth so much. Is it for status? Do you wish to project to others that you have finally made it—you’ve leveraged your skills and your existence to create something from nothing? Do you have specific interests that you would like to fully pursue and these require a higher income? Perhaps you have personal debt or even family members who need financial assistance.

Do you have an innate, personal need to see yourself as someone who has finally understood the BIG PICTURE regarding a situation, system or idea that now you can capitalize on? Because you see it from a macroscopic perspective you can find a unique path to extract resources from it. You know how it works and why it works. You know the underlying structure. You know what causes what in this system. Your mind finds a unique angle where it can gain value…and then you sell that value to others in new ways.

My prediction is that the digital market space will possibly be the biggest market space of the future. Influencers are jumping in on this cultural paradigm now and getting their “real estate” while costs are low and distribution (I think of it more as visibility) is still relatively high. It’s not a hobby. It’s a way for anyone with a creative mind-set to make money.