Photo by Olga Stalska on Unsplash
Obviously:
- make it a "top 5" post
- make it a "top 10" post
- make it a "top 20" post
- make it a "top 50" post
- make it a "top [whatever]" post
But seriously
Just out of curiosity: what makes them so popular?
I really like dev.to and the content is great. I'm also totally not against top [whatever] posts, I just don't get the immense popularity of them. So since I'm a very curious developer I thought, why not ask π Please let me know in the comments!
Oldest comments (25)
Hey Amelia!
Thanks for the clarification π
That's also my experience, but it seems (didn't check) that the "top [whatever]" lists also get more likes related to other articles with the same tags. It just triggers me so much... and then I just have to know why π΅οΈ π
So curious what this post is going to do. If you're right it will probably get a lot of views but not that much likes. What in turn means it will have less views in the long run I guess...
It's a good experiment I think π§ͺπ₯Ό
fascinating indeed!
It's 100% the title. There's a ton of tips out there to help you boost your blog and one of them is creating a tangible title. Making a "top 5" or "X ways to improve Y" makes it very explicit to the reader what to expect.
So I'm letting a lot of readers down by not giving them what they expect with this postπ
SORRY! π
Good explanation! Thank you
Maybe because those type of posts are inspirational and full of ideas. It takes all the effort out of searching online for solutions or useful content when someone just puts it in front of you.
On the other hand.. The searching and coming to conclusions on your own is way better for you development as a developer I think. Following lists can easily create some sort of tunnel vision.
Even though I think there are way too many of these, if you see the top posts this week, month or year they're almost always lists of things.
I think they provide good value in condensed form, but IMO they are overused and a lot of the times repetitive. So if your only goal is to get views, maybe try making a post like this, just know that I wont click on it.
Personally, I just try to write the best possible post I can. If it's good enough, people will like it, share it and it'll become popular. If it doesn't get popular (which is most of the time), oh well! I'll be content with just giving good info to a handful of people.
Definitly not what I'm aiming for! My goal is sharing my joy in development!
Same here π
Definitely agree with the first two.
Regarding popular tags, take a look at: dev.to/tags
There's also moderators that apparently can raise the visibility of your posts (potentially increasing views): dev.to/community-moderation#using-...
So, writing "high-quality" articles may net you some moderator love.
External referrals also seem to count, so basic SEO may have an impact. You can see more detailed stats for each post on your dashboard (you may need to click the ellipsis).
you have to be a genius to become a developer π
(think I read it somewhere.. π΅οΈββοΈ)
A compilation of misconceptions non-tech people have about devs (part 2 of 2) π
Amelia Vieira Rosado γ» Apr 2 γ» 3 min read
π π€£
According to me the reason is because those posts are very easy to produce and easy to read. There isn't a great amount of text on those pages, you can easily skim through the headlines.
Also they are well known marketing strategies people reproduce without always noticing.
dev.to/leamsigc/top-10-monkey-past...
Hey i fallow your steps let see how it goes :D
Top 3 of reasons these posts work :
The last one is dangerous because it usually isn't crowd wisdom. Please keep thinking on your own! π
Well we've just found a new reason : controversy :D