Having experimented with "shock value" articles and social media posts myself, they do not perform as well as you think they would. Also writing what you think an audience would find interesting is also elusive. I find that when I write for myself (as you did with this article), I get way more engagment. Nonetheless, Medium is a numbers game just like anything in life. After 58 articles, I still do not have a viral article, but I have not stopped writing.