Simon Willison on Engineering

Simon Willison@simonw

Pelicans for Gemma 4 E2B, E4B, 26B-A4B and 31B - the first three generated on my laptop via LM Studio, the 31B was broken on my laptop so I ran it via the Gemini API instead t.co

Two blue circles on a brown rectangle and a weird mess of orange blob and yellow triangle for the pelican

328 likes26 repliesPosted Apr 2, 2026

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Viral score

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Why it worked

Leads with a specific number, which is concrete enough to be worth a second of attention.
Uses concrete numbers instead of vague claims, which makes it credible and quotable.
Written from experience rather than as advice, which is harder to argue with.
Short enough to read in full without expanding, which removes a step before the point lands.

The mechanics

Hook: Leads with a number
Structure: Hook
Style: Conversational paragraphs at a steady pace.
Tone: personal
Mechanisms: Specificity
Written for: Engineers and technical teams

Analysis by ViralLoop — not written by the original author.

Topics

Engineering

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