Steal 3 Hours with 200 Words: Feeding Algorithm of Short Information Streams and Countermeasures

The Rise of Short Information Streams

Today, I wanna talk about the term “short information streams”. Lately, I've been hooked on Twitter.

I found an interesting thing: non - members can only post around 200 words. Even if you're a member and can post over a thousand words, only the first 200 or so will show up in the feed.

So, there's another way to post. You can use the additional comment feature to keep each post around 200 words. This way, the whole content can be directly displayed, and you can break a long article into several short ones.

Long articles won't get much attention unless they're super - interesting or you're a big influencer.

The Rules of Short Information Streams

Under these rules, our content has to be short, sharp, and attention - grabbing. No long - winded stuff or overly complex logic. Just give out the conclusion, info, or emotion right away.

For example, you can tell a story or share an achievement in 100 - 200 words.

Users want to quickly find what they need from a sea of information. So, it's hard for them to read every paragraph carefully. They prefer pictures and short articles and want to quickly judge if the content is worth it.

I'm the same. If your title or the first few sentences aren't eye - catching, or the cover isn't appealing, I won't click in.

It's like a self - service buffet. If there are only a few dishes, you can take a bit of each. But if there are dozens, you might want to try everything, end up taking too much, and go over your budget.

If we think of time as a budget, say you only have two hours and there are dozens of dishes in front of you. You'll have to split your time among them, and each dish will get very little of your time.

Another situation is that you planned to spend only two hours, but you can't resist clicking on more content and end up spending five hours.

This is what often happens to us. Time just slips away while we're browsing news, posts, novels, or watching short videos.

Adapting to the Rules

Since the rules are like this, we have to adapt. Write short content when you can, and break long articles into short ones.

Some high - quality, share - worthy and collectible tutorials can be written as long articles. The key isn't the length but to make it complete. People in the know can tell the value of the article and whether it's helpful to them.

Writing Short Articles

When writing short articles, keep these points in mind:

1. Get to the point at the start: Clearly state the topic right from the beginning.
2. Use numbered lists: Keep the content simple and to the point.
3. Add some emotion or hooks: To draw people's attention.
4. Define the topic and audience: Explain who the content is for and how it can help them.

We should put the key info at the front, not in the middle. Don't write in a boring, rambling way without a clear focus.

In short, try to squeeze all the important stuff into the first 100 words and present it directly to your target audience to grab their attention.

My Content Output

I usually write one or two long articles a day, and the rest are short ones.

If you're writing original content seriously, one or two long articles a day is already a lot, considering the limited time.

But you can write many short articles. Just jot down your thoughts or organize the info you've seen. You don't need strong logic or a lot of info. 100 - 200 words are enough.

Information Fragmentation Concerns

Some people worry that too much short - info consumption might lead to fragmented knowledge and affect their knowledge system. They think it's better to read books.

Well, systematic knowledge is indeed important. You need a complete understanding of a certain field, like what programming, new media, self - media, or official accounts are.

I saw a video recently about how to read books systematically.

For example, if you want to learn writing, check out the tables of contents of writing - related books on the market. Find the common points, and those are the essence and core of writing.

By finding these common points, you can build your own knowledge system. Once you have a basic understanding of writing, you can dig deeper and practice step by step.

Dealing with Fragmented Information

In this era, there's a ton of fragmented information. Most new knowledge, technologies, and cutting - edge news come in a fragmented form because they're so new. Books and courses are often behind the times.

This means you need your own system and consciously absorb and classify this fragmented info. This ability is really important.

If you wait for this info to turn into books or public materials and tutorials, you might have to wait one or two years, or even three or five years.

Building a Knowledge System

How to build a knowledge system? First, get a basic conceptual framework for each field. You can do this by reading books and collecting info. It's not hard to get a basic framework for new content because new stuff like AI or other cutting - edge technologies is built on existing knowledge.

You can build the framework first and then gradually fill it in. Or just ask AI.

Then, practice a lot. Turn theory into reality, experience it, feel it, and record it. Slowly fill your knowledge tree.

Daily Reading & Writing by Xiaolu 2025.09.05【day731】