Josh Ries discovered a new quirk in the threading algorithm that if you give your leads too much information too early, you’ll overwhelm them and lose them.
For the past 30 days, I’ve been testing some honestly ridiculous stuff in my Meta thread. It’s been viewed about 11 million times in the last month, but it’s not because I’m suddenly a better writer. That’s because the platform now rewards short, punchy posts.
What’s interesting is that I started this as research for another Inman article. I’m still going to write that article. But this test taught me something important that goes far beyond a thread or a single article.
In real estate lead generation, we try to say too much too early.
Big mistakes agents make at the top of the funnel
Most agents treat top-of-funnel content like a listing presentation. They try to prove everything up front. They over-explain, pile on features, dump market statistics, and end up with a call to action that assumes consumers are ready to act today.
That approach is not only exhausting, but also out of sync with how people actually behave online in 2026. Attention spans are short. Trust is earned slowly. And most people who see your content aren’t ready to take the big step yet, even if they like you.
What Threads makes painfully clear is that a sentence or two can generate more engagement than an entire paragraph, as long as the idea strikes a nerve. Engagement is not the end goal, but the beginning of a relationship.
Why short content is more effective than long content for training
Short-form content works because it doesn’t demand much. Instead of 5 minutes of concentration, you need 1 second of concentration. It sounds like a small thing, but it changes the landscape of lead generation.
If someone engages with you 8-10 times in a short post, you have familiarity and pattern recognition working to your advantage. They have seen your perspective, tone, and consistency. When you finally reach out, or when the other person finally reaches out to you, the conversation doesn’t feel like a cold start.
It feels like a continuation.
That’s the part that agents miss. It’s easier to build a relationship after a series of small engagements than after one big post that most people never finish.
The real point is sequencing, not going viral.
This isn’t about chasing views. This is about ordering information, similar to how humans actually absorb information.
The top of the funnel should be simple. I have an idea. There’s one problem. One opinion is clear. Something that buyers and sellers can respond to without having to schedule a phone call or read a novel. Then I’ll add a little more in the next post. Then I’ll add a little more in the next post. Over time, the audience builds context and you earn the right to go deeper.
Agents do the opposite. They start deep and hope consumers catch up.
What does it look like in real estate content?
Rather than writing a long post about the entire buying process, write a short post about a single issue, such as why buyers keep losing offers even though they’re eligible.
Instead of a full breakdown of pricing strategies, I’ll write a short post about why online quotes create both false confidence and false fear.
Instead of an essay about interest rates, write a line that reframes the decision in a way that makes people stop and think.
Small posts like that become touch points. Touch points create a sense of intimacy. Familiarity builds trust. Trust is what makes subsequent follow-up and conversion easier.
The business math behind small values
There’s also a profitability aspect here that most agents ignore. If nurture is built on repeating small touches, the cost per relationship is lower because you don’t have to constantly try to force big conversions from cold traffic.
Lead waste can also be reduced. Over time, people become self-aware of their intentions. Serious people stay there. The tire kicker fades out. This increases your conversion rate without increasing your spend, and the business math starts to work in your favor.
Why this will change the way you think about lead generation
The thread didn’t just show off the quirks of the platform. It showed us patterns of human behavior.
People don’t want everything upfront. They want enough to keep them interested, then enough to stay confident, then enough to take the next step. If you give too much too soon, it will get overwhelmed and lost. If you give them small consistent values over time, you’ll get their attention repeatedly, and that repeated attention will turn into a real relationship.
The important thing is not that the post is long. It’s better timing
Long-form content is still important. Articles still matter. Guides are still important. Video is still important. But they are most effective after they capture your attention, not as a first impression.
If your lead generator feels like you’re always starting over, a fix isn’t necessarily a good follow-up. The solution is to develop a development strategy that accumulates small wins over time. Because in 2026, attention will be gathered one second at a time and trust will be built in layers.
Josh Ries is a real estate agent and lead generation consultant. You can connect with him on TikTok and Instagram.
