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Patterns

Opening with a question: 223 posts, and what the best ones do

223 posts in the library open with a question, reaching a median of 493 likes. Eight that worked, what separates the top quarter from the rest, and how to write one.

ViralLoop · from the library’s own analysis2 min read

Rests on:the post,the post,the post,the post,the post,the post,the post,the post

The first line asks something the reader has an answer to, or wants one for. It hands them a small job — answering — and people finish jobs they have started.

223 posts in the library open this way — 3% of everything in it. They reach a median of 493 likes, against 632 for the library as a whole: the opening is common, not a guarantee.

Eight that worked

What if Studio Ghibli directed Lord of the Rings?

Did you know your MacBook has a sensor that knows the exact angle of the screen hinge?

Reporter: are you excited for the World Cup here in Boston?

Huh?

What's more likely?

Some war related insider trading? A brand new account in polymarket, only invested in US going to war with Venezuela and Maduro out by January 31. Up 13k so far, was spending thousands on Maduro out at bargain prices as recently as 4 hours ago. Now it’s at .50.

Hey @AnthropicAI: I get you're hungry for data. Claude is really smart! But do you really need to hit our servers a million times in 24 hours?

STYLIST: Any ideas for The Met Gala?

What separates the top from the rest

Comparing the 55 most-liked posts with this opening against the other 168:

  • The structure the analysis reads most often in the top group is Hook → Landing — 23 of 55.

How to write one

Ask a question the reader can answer for themselves in a second, or one they have wondered about and never resolved. Avoid the rhetorical kind whose answer is obviously yes. The posts here that travel furthest follow the question with an answer the reader did not have — otherwise the question was a trick.

The analysis of the strongest example above puts it this way: Preserve the Hook → Landing structure and the opens with a question opening. Replace the subject matter entirely with the writer’s own product, story and numbers.

Take the top three into the studio with your own subject; the opening move carries over, the words do not.

See it in the posts

Every number above is a post in the library, with the mechanics named beside it.

Open the library

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