<b>The first two lines decide everything: the 'see more' cliff</b>

<b>The first two lines decide everything: the 'see more' cliff</b>

The question: how much does a LinkedIn post's opening — the text visible before the 'see more' truncation — determine its total reach?

The dataset: creator analyses of tens of thousands of posts measuring 'expand rate' (share of viewers who click 'see more') against final reach and dwell time.

Three findings:
— Posts visible above the fold are roughly the first ~2–3 lines on mobile; everything else is gated behind a click.
— Expand rate correlated strongly with reach, because expanding extends dwell, which feeds amplification — a compounding loop.
— Hooks that opened mid-tension (a number, a contrarian claim, an unfinished story) out-expanded hooks that summarized the post upfront.

Caveats: 'expand rate' is inconsistently defined across tools, and hook quality is confounded with overall writing quality. Correlation, not causation. Treat as directional.

What it means for B2B: the most leveraged 14 words you'll write are the ones before the fold. A great post with a flat opening dies behind 'see more.' Treat the first line like an email subject line — its only job is to earn the click that earns the dwell that earns the reach.

Bottom line: you don't have a content problem; you have an opening-line problem.