Also called opening line
A hook is the opening moment of a piece of content — the first line or first seconds — that determines whether the rest is consumed.
On feed-based platforms the hook does double duty. It decides whether a human keeps watching, and because the algorithm reads early retention as a quality signal, it also decides how widely the post is distributed. A weak hook fails twice.
Effective hooks state a specific tension quickly: an unexpected claim, a concrete number, a problem the viewer recognises. Introductions — greeting, name, agenda — are the most common way to lose the audience before the content begins.
The same principle governs written content: the first line's job is the second line, not the whole argument.
In practice
"I lost €4,000 on my first product launch" holds attention where "Hey everyone, today I want to talk about launches" loses it in a second.
Common mistake
Introducing yourself first. The audience decides whether to care about you after they care about the subject, not before.
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