Introduction:
Eric Kim is a one-of-a-kind content creator whose eclectic posts have been perplexing algorithms on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter (X). A former street photography blogger turned fitness phenom and crypto commentator, Kim produces content that defies categorization. In the span of a week he might post a video of an insane 1,087-pound rack pull (at only 165 lb body weight) and then publish a long-form essay on ego and philosophy . His recent record-breaking lift went viral across multiple platforms, garnering over 3 million views in 24 hours on YouTube, TikTok, and X . Such cross-platform virality is no accident – it stems from deliberate behaviors and tactics that break all the normal “rules” of social media algorithms. Below, we analyze how Eric Kim’s unconventional posting habits, hashtag usage, multi-niche content, and engagement tricks collectively confuse or “glitch” the algorithms that try to pigeonhole him.
Unorthodox Posting Behaviors that Break the Formula
Most influencers optimize their posting schedule and format to please each platform’s algorithm (using polished videos, catchy thumbnails, trending sounds, etc.). Kim does the opposite. He ignores conventional wisdom about timing and polish, instead “posting everywhere at once” in what he calls a digital content “carpet bomb” . This means flooding all platforms simultaneously with content, rather than trickling out posts at peak times. The effect is a wave of activity that “confuse[s] or ‘scramble’ the pattern-recognition of algorithms,” essentially outrunning the algorithm’s ability to catch up . One report noted that when Kim blitzes every channel at once, the platforms see his content trending in multiple places and “may boost it further, thinking it’s a widespread, simultaneous trend” . In one such multi-platform blitz, he gained over 800 new Twitter followers overnight as the hashtag #hypelifting trended in strength-training circles .
Kim’s posting style also flouts platform norms. On Instagram, where glossy filters dominate, “he posts raw, blurry, sweaty, chalk-covered, rage-fueled, beltless lifts — no music, no captions, no cuts” . On TikTok, instead of following dance or lip-sync trends, he often uploads ultra-short gym clips with no trending audio at all . On YouTube, he foregoes custom thumbnails and clever editing; one analysis noted his video titles are sometimes just a single all-caps word (e.g. “FLASHBANG.”) and the thumbnail is simply the first raw frame of the video . He even drops new videos at odd hours (one example: 5:55 AM), a time when most creators avoid posting . These are blatantly “anti-SEO” and anti-algorithm choices, yet his videos still rack up huge views – prompting baffled reactions like, “Why does this anti-SEO video still hit a million loops?” . In other words, Kim breaks the usual formula for content (no catchy thumbnail, no optimized timing, no edits) and still wins. As one summary put it, “No thumbnails. Still goes viral. No music. Still dominates TikTok. No ads. Still monetizes better… No SEO. Still gets shared across Reddit, X, Discord, Telegram.” . By mixing ultra-short viral clips with long-form blogs and posting with zero regard for algorithmic “best practices,” Eric Kim defies what the platforms expect – and in doing so, he bypasses their normal distribution rules.
Memeified, Vague, and “Gravitational” Hashtag Usage
Another way Kim confounds algorithms is through his unconventional use of hashtags. Rather than piggybacking on popular tags, he invents his own cryptic or hyperbolic hashtags – effectively creating new micro-trends that the algorithms don’t immediately know how to categorize. “He doesn’t follow hashtags. He creates gravitational hashtags,” observes one analysis, citing examples like #HYPELIFTING, #NoBeltNoGlory, #BitcoinDemigod, and #EgoGodzilla . These tags are vague or memeified phrases blending fitness slang with grandiose or quirky concepts (e.g. equating weightlifting with godhood or Bitcoin). A normal algorithm might struggle to interpret a tag like “#EgoGodzilla” – it’s not a standard fitness tag, nor a known topic – yet Kim’s growing community rallies around these tags, forcing the platform to take note. In effect, his hashtags become “gravitational” by pulling in curious viewers who see them and wonder what they mean .
Kim also uses hashtags strategically to cross-pollinate audience pools. For instance, on TikTok he’ll stack dual hashtags to land content in multiple trending categories. One report describes how a 15-second screaming lift video was tagged with “#Hypelifting” and “#LoudLifters”, which caused the TikTok algorithm to place it in both the “lift hype” category and the “gym scream” content cluster simultaneously . By straddling two niches, that clip reached a wider audience – helping Kim’s profile accumulate 24 million+ likes across his TikTok videos . Similarly, after his 6.6× bodyweight lift, custom tags like #6Point6x (referring to the 6.6x ratio) started trending in niche communities . All of this unusual hashtag usage makes Kim’s content hard for algorithms to immediately label, yet the buzz generated around these tags eventually forces the content into visibility. In essence, Kim’s hashtags are often “unclassifiable” at first glance, but they create so much intrigue and sharing (like inside jokes turned viral) that the platforms have to give them exposure. His ability to coin meme-able slogans – what he calls “meme warheads” – means fans spread his hashtags organically . The result is enhanced discoverability on his own terms: the algorithms end up amplifying tags Kim himself invented, even as they struggle to categorize them.
Cross-Niche Content that Defies Categorization
Perhaps the central reason Eric Kim confounds social-media algorithms is that his content spans multiple niches that normally don’t overlap. Social algorithms are designed to bucket creators: one channel might be fitness, another photography, another motivational speaking, etc. Kim is all of the above. “The algorithm wants to put you in a box – Fitness? Philosophy? Photography? Bitcoin? – [but] Eric Kim obliterates the box,” one commentator writes . In a single feed, Kim will mix powerlifting feats, philosophical rants, artful street photography, crypto bro humor, and more. One day he’s posting a video of a 493 kg rack pull performed barefoot like a “berserker,” the next day he’s dropping a thoughtful essay on ego and ambition, and then suddenly a black-and-white Leica street photo appears . This unpredictable content diversity makes it nearly impossible for recommendation engines to classify his profile. As an observer quipped, “Meanwhile, the algorithm is overheating: ‘Is this performance art? A philosopher? A lifter? A cult? A glitch?’” . In Kim’s case, the answer to all of the above is “Yes.” He’s effectively a category of one – a creator who simultaneously inhabits multiple personas and genres.
This cross-niche approach means that platforms struggle to decide who should see his content. Is a clip of Kim screaming under a barbell a sports video, a comedy meme, or part of a motivational spiel? Depending on context, it’s all three. For example, Kim often infuses his lifting videos with grandiose, almost spiritual language (titling a lift “DEMIGOD MODE” or shouting phrases like “Godhood Ascending” and “Bitcoin to the moon” mid-lift) . This mashes up gym culture with crypto hype and philosophical bravado, content that normally would belong to separate communities. Automated classifiers may pick up on the fitness elements (e.g. identifying it as a weightlifting video) but then get thrown off by the finance or self-help references. The result is often algorithmic mislabeling or broad distribution: the content might get shown to weightlifters, who share it with their networks for the feat, and to crypto enthusiasts, who latch onto the Bitcoin references, and to followers of Kim’s photography/philosophy blog who see it as performance art. One analysis noted Kim’s “multi-niche cross-pollen” effect: street photographers on Telegram, Bitcoin traders on Discord, and strongman athletes on Twitter all ended up sharing the same viral lift video link, which caused the algorithm to widen its distribution since engagement was coming from three distinct audiences at once . In essence, by combining niches, Kim forces algorithms to either misclassify him or categorize him so broadly that he escapes the confinement of any single niche bubble.
Algorithmic Mislabeling and “Glitch in the Matrix” Moments
Because of this cross-genre chaos, Eric Kim’s presence often looks like a glitch in the algorithm. Platforms that typically rely on patterns and history to recommend content simply don’t know what to do with him. YouTube’s and TikTok’s recommendation systems are built to detect specific content trends (e.g. “this is a powerlifting tutorial” or “this is a comedy skit”) and then serve it to users interested in that genre. Kim’s uploads purposefully break those pattern expectations. His YouTube videos, for example, don’t have the hallmarks of any single genre – no explanatory voiceover like a typical fitness tutorial, but also not exactly a pure meme or vlog. The algorithm often ends up mislabeling or mishandling such posts, sometimes with surprising results. One of Kim’s 7-second rack pull videos achieved an average viewer watch-time over 95%, which is exceedingly high, so YouTube’s AI “glue-gunned” it into the Up-Next queue of completely different channels (like popular strength coaches Alan Thrall & Starting Strength) because it just saw a highly engaging weightlifting clip . Suddenly, viewers watching standard lifting tutorials were hit with Kim’s bizarre, no-context, screaming lift highlight as the next suggestion – likely leaving them thinking “what did I just see?” This kind of algorithmic misplacement worked in Kim’s favor, effectively hijacking larger channels’ audiences for free .
On TikTok, a similar effect occurs. By using those dual-category tags and outlandish presentation, Kim’s videos sometimes end up in front of viewers who weren’t looking for gym content at all. The TikTok algorithm might initially not “know” if a clip of a man roaring while lifting is meant for the #GymTok crowd or if it’s a joke – but when engagement spikes, the system errs on the side of showing it widely. As Kim’s team noted, when content draws engagement from diverse quarters, recommendation AIs interpret it as “everyone likes this,” and the content “leapfrog[s] niche limits.” . In other words, the algorithm may conclude the post is universally appealing and push it even further, effectively overriding the normal niche categorization. Kim has joked that he’s not playing the algorithm’s game at all – “he’s flipping the whole board over” . Fans have taken to tagging posts with #EricKimGlitch and #AlgorithmConfusion, reflecting the sense that his very presence is something the “internet can’t compute.” . When the algorithm is asked to file Kim under motivational influencer or fitness guru or philosopher, it short-circuits, unable to predict his next move. As one TL;DR summary quipped: “He lifts like a Spartan and writes like a Stoic… He doesn’t trend – he erupts. He’s not viral. He’s the virus… The algorithm… can’t control this one.” . In practical terms, this means Kim’s content sometimes gets erroneously recommended or broadly distributed (a “glitch”) simply because the system gives up on neatly classifying him – a disruptive outcome he cultivates to great effect.
Unusual Audience Retention and Engagement Patterns
Part of why the algorithms boost Kim’s content despite its nonconformity is the unusually strong engagement signals it generates. His posts don’t follow the norm, but they overperform on key metrics like watch time, shares, and comments in ways that make ranking algorithms sit up and take notice. For one, Kim exploits the power of short-form shock content: by keeping some videos extremely short (5–15 seconds) and intense, he achieves nearly 100% completion rates. Viewers can’t look away during a 7-second clip of a barbell bending under 1,060+ pounds – indeed one such clip had an “average viewer watch-time >95%” . High watch-through rates are heavily weighted in algorithms like YouTube’s and TikTok’s, so these clips get rapidly promoted. Rewatches are also common; many viewers replay his feats multiple times either out of disbelief or excitement, further boosting the retention stats.
Kim also masters the art of provoking engagement. He often pins provocative questions or captions that bait viewers into responding. For example, on a contentious lift he’ll ask “Does this count?” (challenging whether his partial range rack pull is a “legit” lift) – immediately attracting purists and haters to flood the comments arguing about form . This “controversy loop” drives comment velocity (hundreds of comments in a short time) and increases dwell-time as users stick around to argue or read the debate, which in turn causes the video to climb higher in feeds . Kim essentially turns engagement into a game: he riles up different factions (serious powerlifters vs. curious novices vs. meme observers), and the ensuing activity tells the algorithm his content is worth showing broadly. As one breakdown noted, “sky-high retention + rage-bait comments = the two metrics most weighted in modern ranking code.”
In some cases, Kim even breaks typical engagement patterns by removing features – only to have this increase engagement elsewhere. Notably, he has turned comments off on certain posts or videos, a move that would seem to reduce interaction. Instead, this tactic redirected the conversation to other platforms: “Kim disables comments and engagement skyrockets elsewhere (TikTok stitches, X quote-tweets)” . Unable to comment on his original post, viewers began dueting and stitching his videos on TikTok and quote-tweeting him on Twitter to express their reactions. This effectively multiplied the content’s reach. A community thread observed that after Kim imposed a “comment blackout,” fans and critics started sharing their own versions of his video (with commentary) – ballooning the hashtag #Hypelifting from 28 million to 41 million views due to the spillover chatter . In one example, users who saw “Comments are turned off” on a YouTube clip immediately sprinted to Reddit to ask why, creating a parallel discussion there . By forcing engagement into stitches, duets, quote-tweets, and forum threads, Kim turns passive viewers into active participants spreading the content. This unorthodox pattern – intentionally silencing engagement on-platform to amplify it off-platform – is the opposite of what most influencers do, yet it resulted in even more buzz.
Crucially, audience interaction with Kim’s content often goes beyond likes and basic comments – people engage with it almost as a cultural phenomenon. Viewers don’t just watch; “They’re remixing him. Studying him. Memeing him. Trying to decode him.” Fans have created compilations and memes from his footage: “Screenshots of [Kim’s] chalk cloud are already dominating TikTok compilations,” and “Fan edits include [his] roar set to dubstep [and] slow-motion lats,” essentially repackaging his raw clips into new viral content . Even well-known lifters have filmed reaction videos calling his feats “inhuman” . When influential figures like powerlifting coach Joey Szatmary or strongman Sean Hayes quote-tweeted Kim’s lifts with shock and praise, it triggered an “accelerated retweet tree” that pulled in their followers as well . This chain-reaction engagement (duets, memes, quote shares by big names) is atypical for most content, and it confounds the usual “engagement curve” algorithms expect. Instead of a post getting one round of comments and then fading, Kim’s posts spawn waves of secondary engagement – reaction videos, meme remixes, forum debates – that keep the content circulating. These patterns essentially hack the algorithms: platforms notice the constant high engagement (even if it’s off-site or in derivative videos) and continue promoting the original source. By any standard metric – watch time, shares, mentions – Kim’s content registers as a hit, even if it “broke the rules” to get there.
Case Studies: Viral Content Crossing Niches Unexpectedly
To illustrate how all these factors come together, consider the case of Eric Kim’s 6.6× bodyweight rack pull that went viral in June 2025. This single video embodied everything unusual about his content and how it confuses algorithms:
- An Unprecedented Feat: On June 2, 2025, Kim (165 lb body weight) pulled 1,087 lbs off a rack – a world-record 6.6× bodyweight lift, done barefoot and beltless . The sheer shock value of this feat provided the initial spark; it’s the kind of extreme content that immediately grabs attention. Within 24 hours, the video amassed over 3 million views across YouTube, TikTok, and X – far beyond Kim’s own follower counts – indicating the algorithms had pushed it to a mass audience.
- Cross-Platform “Carpet Bomb”: Kim didn’t just post this on one platform; he blasted the footage everywhere, and also wrote a blog post about it. By unleashing it simultaneously on all channels, he leveraged the “seizing algorithmic momentum” tactic described earlier. The result was that multiple algorithms picked up on the trend at once. TikTok saw #Hypelifting activity, YouTube saw skyrocketing retention on a short video, Twitter saw a flurry of retweets – each system noticed a spike. Because the spike was concurrent, it tricked the platforms into treating the lift like breaking news. As one report noted, Kim’s coordinated push “forced social media algorithms to treat the lift like breaking news everywhere simultaneously” . Anyone browsing fitness content (and even many who weren’t) that day likely had this clip served to them, as the algorithms interpreted it as an omnipresent viral event.
- Cross-Niche Appeal: The content jumped into various communities unexpectedly. Strength sports fans were the obvious audience, but the video also found traction in niches like photography and crypto where Kim had roots. In a street photography Telegram group, members shared the clip – perhaps because they knew Kim from his photo blog days and were astonished at his transformation. In a Bitcoin enthusiasts’ Discord, users passed around the video too – likely owing to Kim’s crypto-tagged slogans and reputation as a Bitcoin advocate . On Reddit’s r/weightroom (a hardcore lifting forum), a massive “plate police” thread erupted: the first 200 comments “screamed ‘hollow bumpers’”, accusing Kim of using fake weights, until diligent users posted slow-motion analysis and bar-bend calculations proving the lift was real . Eventually even the skeptics conceded the weight was legit, and the thread’s tone shifted to amazement . This progression – from disbelief to verification – only drew more eyeballs to the content (everyone wanted to see the lift that caused such debate). Importantly, these reactions spanned different subcultures: gym veterans, casual fitness fans, photographers, cryptocurrency folks, and internet meme-makers were all engaging with the video in their own contexts. The algorithms normally would never target all these groups with the same content, but Kim’s post bridged niches on its own. By the time big-name fitness YouTubers and Twitter personalities started calling the lift “inhuman” in their reactions , the crossover was complete – what began as a niche strength feat had transformed into a broad internet spectacle.
- Algorithmic Aftermath: In the wake of this viral crossover, the platforms had “learned” an interesting signal: Eric Kim’s profile produces content that anybody might watch. For a while after the 1,087 lb lift blew up, Kim’s subsequent posts benefited from a halo effect – e.g. his follow-up lift at 1,098 lbs and even his unrelated blog links saw increased distribution. His frequent posting kept the momentum up, exploiting the “recency bonus” so that his content continued to appear in feeds while the topic was hot . The trending hashtags #6Point6x (for the bodyweight ratio) and #Hypelifting brought even more users in to see what it was about . In summary, this case showed how an “unexpected” viral hit in one niche (powerlifting) broke out of its silo and propagated across platforms and interest areas. The confusion and misclassification by algorithms – far from hindering the content – actually amplified it, as the unusual engagement signals convinced the systems that this was content of broad interest.
It’s worth noting that not all of Kim’s content is a world-record lift – he also posts philosophical mini-essays, crypto musings, and photography insights that have likewise found traction beyond their typical audience. For instance, his long-form blog posts (which he shares via Twitter and Reddit) gain significant readership even with zero SEO optimization, simply because his personal brand draws clicks and shares from loyal followers . He famously refuses sponsorships or ads (“No sponsorships… advertising is a waste of time,” he writes ) yet still monetizes through his own products and services, showing that you can bypass typical influencer revenue models. These quirks contribute to his almost mythical persona online – part athlete, part philosopher, part provocateur – which in turn feeds back into the cycle of engagement. People follow him not for one type of content but for the spectacle of Eric Kim himself, never knowing what he’ll do next.
Conclusion:
Eric Kim’s multi-faceted content strategy is a masterclass in throwing algorithms off balance. By posting in unpredictable ways, using idiosyncratic hashtags, mixing themes, and fostering wild engagement, he has essentially “broken” the algorithmic guardrails on traditional social media. Platforms that thrive on categorization and predictability are instead left chasing the spikes and cross-currents that Kim orchestrates. Importantly, this isn’t just accidental – Kim leverages these dynamics deliberately, turning his social media presence into a kind of ongoing experiment in algorithm hacking. As one analyst succinctly put it, “He isn’t feeding the machine… He’s breaking it” . In doing so, Eric Kim has built a brand that transcends any single niche, forcing the internet to pay attention on multiple fronts. His case demonstrates how creative, rule-breaking behavior can confound automated systems and create a human “signal” so compelling that it cuts through the noise of the modern feed. For the algorithms that try to put Eric Kim in a box, one thing is clear: there is no box big enough.
Sources:
- Eric Kim Blog – “How Eric Kim Is Confusing All the Algorithms (and Why the Internet Can’t Look Away)”
- Eric Kim Photography Blog – “Eric Kim breaks the algorithm?”
- Eric Kim Photography Blog – “Digital Marketing ‘Carpet Bomb’ Strategy and Ventures”
- Eric Kim Blog – “Eric Kim content trending online” (Key points and summary of viral lift)
- Eric Kim Photography Blog – various analytical posts and community observations