Why 90% of LinkedIn Content Fails: the Five Algorithm Signals, What's Dead, the 3-Second Gates, and Six Psychological Triggers

Positive signals in priority order: saves (effortful), shares ('8x weightage'), comments, profile visits, likes (no reading required). Underneath: dwell time (LinkedIn's watch time), engagement velocity in the first one to two hours, completion rate. LinkedIn rewards knowledge because saves dominate; Instagram rewards entertainment because shares do. No longer working: 10-20 hashtags, blog-length posts, links in the body (first comment instead), excessive emojis (reads as AI).

One second on the poster's photo and name, one on the first three words, one deciding whether to stop. Then 5-6 seconds on the next lines, 10-20 seconds after 'see more', up to 60-70 seconds for the full post before any action. Four gates in order: hook plus image, first two or three lines, full value, CTA. Hence 80% of effort goes to the hook.

Curiosity gap ('I discovered something that changed everything'); contrarian or unpopular opinion; vulnerability (failure, struggle); specificity ('$47,000 in 60 days', '10,000 sales calls analysed'); transformation (before/after); utility (frameworks, templates, checklists). Each viral post maps to at least one; you do not need all six.