Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts: Update for 2021
15 May 2021
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If there are any supplements or updates to this article after the date of publication, they will appear in the Post-Publication Notes section at the end of this article.
2021 Update
Social media marketing (SMM) is one of the most important aspects of digital marketing. It involves creating and sharing content on social media networks in order to advance business objectives such as marketing and branding goals. Well-executed, it provides several benefits: improved brand and marketplace awareness, engagement with a worldwide audience, increased traffic, enhanced search engine optimization (SEO) rankings, and more.
The lifespan of posts is of interest. Because content can live forever, a helpful metric is half-life. It’s the amount of time it takes for a post to receive half of its total engagements. As shown in the image above and described below, the half-life of posts varies by platform.
Earlier versions of this article and the associated visual covered six platforms: Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. This update addresses those six platforms, and two additional ones: TikTok and Snapchat.
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn
YouTube
Pinterest
TikTok
Snapchat
In cases where there are multiple references for a metric and they report different values, the average is applied.
Be mindful of the half-life values when posting content.
Post-Publication Notes
Update on 6 January 2025
Algorithms and other factors on social media platforms change over time. For that reason, Scott M. Graffius periodically updates his 'Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts' research. The most current edition is here.
The short URL for this article is bit.ly/halflife-2021.
© Copyright 2021 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.
If there are any supplements or updates to this article after the date of publication, they will appear in the Post-Publication Notes section at the end of this article.
2021 Update
Social media marketing (SMM) is one of the most important aspects of digital marketing. It involves creating and sharing content on social media networks in order to advance business objectives such as marketing and branding goals. Well-executed, it provides several benefits: improved brand and marketplace awareness, engagement with a worldwide audience, increased traffic, enhanced search engine optimization (SEO) rankings, and more.
The lifespan of posts is of interest. Because content can live forever, a helpful metric is half-life. It’s the amount of time it takes for a post to receive half of its total engagements. As shown in the image above and described below, the half-life of posts varies by platform.
Earlier versions of this article and the associated visual covered six platforms: Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. This update addresses those six platforms, and two additional ones: TikTok and Snapchat.
- Half-life for posts: 21 minutes
- References: https://moz.com/blog/when-is-my-tweets-prime-of-life and https://blog.hootsuite.com/twitter-statistics/
- Half-life for posts: 30 minutes
- Reference: http://www.wiselytics.com/blog/facebook-posts-lifetime-even-shorter-than-you-thought/
- Half-life for posts: 1,140 minutes (= 19 hours)
- Reference: https://get.simplymeasured.com/2014-q4-instagram-study.html#sm.00010ubysp4k5cujr2e2hdhgkg67l
- Half-life for posts: 1,440 minutes (= 24 hours)
- Reference: https://espirian.co.uk/linkedin-improve-engagement/
YouTube
- Half-life for videos: 8,640 minutes (= 6 days)
- Reference: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-the-lifecycle-of-a-youtube-video-2010-5
- Half-life for posts: 153,300 minutes (= 3.5 months)
- Reference: https://www.webfx.com/blog/social-media/why-pinterest-better-than-facebook-brands/
TikTok
- Half-life for posts: 0 minutes [exceptions apply: TikTok posts instantly decay, except for viral content]
- References: https://fanbooster.com/blog/tiktok-marketing/ and https://later.com/blog/tiktok-algorithm/
Snapchat
- Half-life for posts: 0 minutes [exceptions apply: Snapchat messages may disappear instantly or live up to 24 hours]
- References: https://support.snapchat.com/en-US/article/when-are-snaps-chats-deleted and https://www.techniquehow.com/why-messages-on-snapchat-not-disappear/
In cases where there are multiple references for a metric and they report different values, the average is applied.
Be mindful of the half-life values when posting content.
Post-Publication Notes
Update on 6 January 2025
Algorithms and other factors on social media platforms change over time. For that reason, Scott M. Graffius periodically updates his 'Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts' research. The most current edition is here.
The short URL for this article is bit.ly/halflife-2021.
© Copyright 2021 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.