TikTok, Reels, Shorts: one video, three algorithms
The same clip performs differently everywhere. Here's what each algorithm wants.
The same 30-second clip can do 500 views on Reels, 40K on TikTok and 1.2M on Shorts. Same content, three different distribution machines. Understanding the differences tells you what to tweak — and what to ignore.
TikTok: watch time percentage
TikTok's first gate is completion rate. A 15-second clip watched fully beats a 60-second clip watched halfway. Front-load the hook in the first second, cut anything slow, and shorter is usually safer.
Reels: shares and saves
Instagram weighs sends-to-friends heavily. Relatable and 'tag a friend who...' content outperforms pure information. Captions matter more here than anywhere — Reels viewers actually read them.
Shorts: swipe-away rate
YouTube cares whether viewers swipe away or keep watching — and it will keep testing an old Short for months. Shorts is the slowest to pop and the longest to pay out. Never judge a Short in its first week.
So what do you change per platform?
Honestly: almost nothing. Keep one master edit with a strong first second and captions burned in. Adjust only the caption text and posting time per platform. The per-platform 'optimization' advice industry is mostly noise — distribution breadth beats micro-tweaks every time.
Put this into practice
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