**How Platforms Quietly Encourage This Behavior**
While users often blame creators, the truth is more complicated.
Social platforms prioritize **engagement over clarity**.
A post that delivers the answer immediately:
* Gets likes
* Gets scrolled past
A post that withholds the answer:
* Generates comments
* Triggers replies
* Keeps users on the app longer
From an algorithm’s perspective, “The answer is in the 1st comment” is a **perfect engagement engine**.
Even negative reactions—anger, frustration, sarcasm—still count as interaction.
The algorithm doesn’t care *why* you commented.
It only cares *that* you did.
# **When the First Comment Actually Has the Answer**
To be fair, sometimes the answer *really is* in the first comment.
Examples where this works well:
* Recipes that don’t fit in captions
* Long explanations better suited to comments
* Updates posted after the original upload
* Clarifications added in response to questions
In these cases, the phrase serves a practical purpose.
The problem is that this legitimate use has been overshadowed by manipulation.
