Why speed beats truth online, and what that means for what you share.
Disney Knows Its Audience. Do You?
A viral Disney Cruise commercial sparked jokes about price. It also revealed a lesson most creators and entrepreneurs ignore.
Blog today, not tomorrow.
A week ago, Texas Tech broke the internet, or maybe better said, bent it, when a video tour of their new weight room went viral after highlighting that their state-of-the-art facility did not include dumbbells lighter than 40 pounds.
The video was liked and shared hundreds of thousands of times, with people pointing out the absurdity of the situation. The overriding reaction was this: regardless of how big and strong these young men are, having lighter weights matters. You need them for warming up and for targeting specific areas of the body, especially shoulders.
NFL great and now broadcaster J.J. Watt posted on X, “Hopefully just performative for social media and not actually true. Would be wildly absurd and irresponsible.”
Fitness influencer Joey Swoll, with over a million followers, added, “That’s absolutely ridiculous. I hope this is a joke. Regardless of how ‘strong’ someone is, we ALL have to warm up, especially if not a compound movement where lower weight is NECESSARY!”
When I started writing this week’s blog, I was ready to rant about performative gestures over real action.
But guess what. After more than a million views and thousands of comments, it turns out it wasn’t true.
Here’s what actually happened: a Texas Tech spokesperson told a local journalist, “We do have weights less than 40 pounds in that facility, just not in the area shown in the video.” They added, “Those less than 40-pound weights are maybe a 10-second walk from that area.”
Funny how the internet works. The update gets lost, but the original video keeps getting shared and commented on.
This isn’t about dumbbells or bro culture. This is about how the internet works now.
The first version wins. Not because it is right. Because it moves faster.
The original clip had everything needed to spread:
• Clear visual
• Easy outrage
• Instant opinion
No thinking required.
So people reacted. They shared. They piled on. Within hours, the story was set. Then the truth showed up.
Quiet. Measured. Less interesting. BORING.
And by then, it did not matter. The attention was already gone.
The algorithm does not reward accuracy. It rewards reaction.
The faster something makes you feel something, the more likely you are to engage. And the more you engage, the more it spreads.
That is the loop.
If you create content or even sharing content, you are not competing with facts. You are competing with speed.
You are competing with how quickly someone understands your point, feels something, and decides to share.
Truth still matters. First decides what people believe.
Before you share something, pause. Ask one question: Is this true, or does it just feel true?
Because in a world where speed wins, that pause is your edge.
