Mike, I don’t know about the current algorithm, but I’ve gotten lots of data points from Ev Williams reading and recommending my stuff.
If he recommends something early, like less than 10 recommends, it doesn’t do much. But if he recommends late, like >50 recommends, that seems to create a tipping point.
In a way, that’s sensible.
My page views are down this month too, but I’m pretty sure I can correlate that to writing fewer clickbait headlines and more niche content.