Social media
Half-Life for Posts on Different Social Media Platforms
10 December 2018
Follow @scottgraffius
🔥 A new edition of this article (and visual) is here.
Social media is one of the most important aspects of digital marketing. 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 more 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.
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn
YouTube
Pinterest
Be mindful of the half-life values when posting content.
🔥 The latest version of this article and visual is located here.
Note: This article and the accompanying image were updated on October 20, 2019 to add YouTube and incorporate new data. In cases where there are multiple references for a metric and they report different values, the average is applied.
© Copyright 2018 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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.
🔥 A new edition of this article (and visual) is here.
Social media is one of the most important aspects of digital marketing. 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 more 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.
- 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/
Be mindful of the half-life values when posting content.
🔥 The latest version of this article and visual is located here.
Note: This article and the accompanying image were updated on October 20, 2019 to add YouTube and incorporate new data. In cases where there are multiple references for a metric and they report different values, the average is applied.
© Copyright 2018 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.
Four Ways to Improve Your Strategic Thinking Skills Today
16 October 2020
Follow @scottgraffius
Strategic thinking is often considered essential to an organization's successful performance. Some have even advocated for companies to develop the strategic thinking skills of their executives and other staff as a core competency. How can strategic thinking skills be developed? But first, here's a definition.
“Strategic thinking is a distinctive management activity whose purpose is to discover novel, imaginative strategies which can rewrite the rules of the competitive game; and to envision potential futures significantly different from the present. Furthermore, strategic thinking is specified as being conceptual, systems-oriented, directional (linking the future with the past), and opportunistic.”
— Ellen F. Goldman
In other words, strategic thinking is a process used to broaden an individual's perspective to achieve successful outcomes such as competitive advantage. And it can happen at every level of the organization; it's not just for executives.
Here are four specific things you can do to improve your strategic thinking skills.
1. Schedule Time for Strategic Thinking
You are investing in your success as well as that of the organization. Find the time to focus on strategic thinking. A tip is to place a recurring event on your calendar to reserve time for strategic thinking activities.
2. Monitor the Big Picture Including Trends
The default focus at most organizations is on what’s directly ahead. However, "peripheral vision"—including keeping sight of the big picture and industry trends—is essential for long-term success. Some tips follow. Keep abreast of industry organizations and publications. Build external networks to help you best scan the competitive landscape. Determine the unique perspective that your role provides, and define its favorable impact on the organization’s vision, mission, and/or strategic objectives.
3. Ask Questions to Uncover Patterns
Further to your mindfulness of the big picture and understanding of changes in the industry, you can put strategic thinking to work by asking yourself and others questions. A few examples follow. "What if _____?" questions are frequently effective in helping one "see around the corner." And variations such as "If _____, then _____?" often yield insights as well.
4. Embrace Uncertainty and Conflict
Strategic thinking involves envisioning the future and potential proactive ways the organization can change to remain competitive and successful. You should accept that the future is uncertain, and challenging assumptions by asking questions and other tactics may make some people uncomfortable. Remaining mindful of those aspects will help you stay the course in regularly practicing strategic thinking and securing the benefits summarized in this article.
Conclusion
By sharpening your strategic thinking skills, you benefit both yourself and your organization. It helps you make a greater contribution to the business—which may also support your advancement—and it helps the company enjoy greater competitive advantage and long-term success. So, start work on your strategic thinking skills today!
Bibliography
Atsmon, Yuval (2017, May 2). How to Unleash Your Strategic Thinking. Digital article. McKinsey & Company.
Bonn, Ingrid (2005, June). Improving Strategic Thinking: A Multilevel Approach. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 26 (5). DOI: 10.1108/01437730510607844.
Cowan, N. (2001, February). The Magical Number 4 in Short-Term Memory: A Reconsideration of Mental Storage Capacity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24 (1): 87-119.
Dixit, Avinash K. and Nelebuff, Barry J. (1993). Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
Goldman, Ellen F. (2007, Summer). Strategic Thinking at the Top. MIT Sloan Management Review, 48 (4): 75-81.
Graffius, Scott M. (2016). Thinking Strategically and Acting Tactically. Winnetka, CA: Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions.
Reynolds, K. (2013). Strategic Thinking for Today's Project Managers. Paper presented at PMI Global Congress 2013—North America, New Orleans, LA. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
Syrett, Michael and Devine, Marion (2012). Managing Uncertainty: Strategies for Surviving and Thriving in Turbulent Times. London, United Kingdom: Profile Books.
About the Author
Scott M. Graffius is an agile project management consultant, practitioner, award-winning author, and keynote speaker. Content from his books, speaking engagements, and more has been used by businesses, governments, and universities, including Gartner, Cisco, RSA, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the United States Department of Energy, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M, and others. Thinkers360 named Scott a Top 20 Global Thought Leader and Influencer.
His full bio is available here.
Connect with Scott on:
About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.
There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.
With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions, Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:
Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”
Winner of 17 first place awards.
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.
About Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change
Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.
Based on actual events, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.
The award-winning book by Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.
The short link for this article is https://bit.ly/4-strategic.
This article was first published here. Later—on August 24, 2021—the article was posted to LinkedIn here as well.
© Copyright 2020 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.
Strategic thinking is often considered essential to an organization's successful performance. Some have even advocated for companies to develop the strategic thinking skills of their executives and other staff as a core competency. How can strategic thinking skills be developed? But first, here's a definition.
“Strategic thinking is a distinctive management activity whose purpose is to discover novel, imaginative strategies which can rewrite the rules of the competitive game; and to envision potential futures significantly different from the present. Furthermore, strategic thinking is specified as being conceptual, systems-oriented, directional (linking the future with the past), and opportunistic.”
— Ellen F. Goldman
In other words, strategic thinking is a process used to broaden an individual's perspective to achieve successful outcomes such as competitive advantage. And it can happen at every level of the organization; it's not just for executives.
Here are four specific things you can do to improve your strategic thinking skills.
1. Schedule Time for Strategic Thinking
You are investing in your success as well as that of the organization. Find the time to focus on strategic thinking. A tip is to place a recurring event on your calendar to reserve time for strategic thinking activities.
2. Monitor the Big Picture Including Trends
The default focus at most organizations is on what’s directly ahead. However, "peripheral vision"—including keeping sight of the big picture and industry trends—is essential for long-term success. Some tips follow. Keep abreast of industry organizations and publications. Build external networks to help you best scan the competitive landscape. Determine the unique perspective that your role provides, and define its favorable impact on the organization’s vision, mission, and/or strategic objectives.
3. Ask Questions to Uncover Patterns
Further to your mindfulness of the big picture and understanding of changes in the industry, you can put strategic thinking to work by asking yourself and others questions. A few examples follow. "What if _____?" questions are frequently effective in helping one "see around the corner." And variations such as "If _____, then _____?" often yield insights as well.
4. Embrace Uncertainty and Conflict
Strategic thinking involves envisioning the future and potential proactive ways the organization can change to remain competitive and successful. You should accept that the future is uncertain, and challenging assumptions by asking questions and other tactics may make some people uncomfortable. Remaining mindful of those aspects will help you stay the course in regularly practicing strategic thinking and securing the benefits summarized in this article.
Conclusion
By sharpening your strategic thinking skills, you benefit both yourself and your organization. It helps you make a greater contribution to the business—which may also support your advancement—and it helps the company enjoy greater competitive advantage and long-term success. So, start work on your strategic thinking skills today!
Bibliography
Atsmon, Yuval (2017, May 2). How to Unleash Your Strategic Thinking. Digital article. McKinsey & Company.
Bonn, Ingrid (2005, June). Improving Strategic Thinking: A Multilevel Approach. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 26 (5). DOI: 10.1108/01437730510607844.
Cowan, N. (2001, February). The Magical Number 4 in Short-Term Memory: A Reconsideration of Mental Storage Capacity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24 (1): 87-119.
Dixit, Avinash K. and Nelebuff, Barry J. (1993). Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
Goldman, Ellen F. (2007, Summer). Strategic Thinking at the Top. MIT Sloan Management Review, 48 (4): 75-81.
Graffius, Scott M. (2016). Thinking Strategically and Acting Tactically. Winnetka, CA: Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions.
Reynolds, K. (2013). Strategic Thinking for Today's Project Managers. Paper presented at PMI Global Congress 2013—North America, New Orleans, LA. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
Syrett, Michael and Devine, Marion (2012). Managing Uncertainty: Strategies for Surviving and Thriving in Turbulent Times. London, United Kingdom: Profile Books.
About the Author
Scott M. Graffius is an agile project management consultant, practitioner, award-winning author, and keynote speaker. Content from his books, speaking engagements, and more has been used by businesses, governments, and universities, including Gartner, Cisco, RSA, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the United States Department of Energy, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M, and others. Thinkers360 named Scott a Top 20 Global Thought Leader and Influencer.
His full bio is available here.
Connect with Scott on:
About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.
There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.
With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions, Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:
- Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
- Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
- Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.
Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”
Winner of 17 first place awards.
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇭🇺 Hungary
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇮🇱 Israel
- 🇮🇹 Italy
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇳🇴 Norway
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇦🇪 UAE
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸 United States
About Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change
Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.
Based on actual events, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.
The award-winning book by Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- 🇦🇹 Austria
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸 United States
The short link for this article is https://bit.ly/4-strategic.
This article was first published here. Later—on August 24, 2021—the article was posted to LinkedIn here as well.
© Copyright 2020 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.
Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts: Update for 2021
15 May 2021
Follow @scottgraffius
🔥 A new edition of this article (and visual) is here.
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.
Permission Requests and Downloadable High-Resolution Versions of 'Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts' Visual
🔥 A new edition of this article (and visual) is here.
For permission requests, contact the email address noted in the image.
High resolution versions of the image are available at the following links: here for the JPG file and here for the PNG file.
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.
🔥 A new edition of this article (and visual) is here.
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.
Permission Requests and Downloadable High-Resolution Versions of 'Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts' Visual
🔥 A new edition of this article (and visual) is here.
For permission requests, contact the email address noted in the image.
High resolution versions of the image are available at the following links: here for the JPG file and here for the PNG file.
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.
Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts: Update for 2022
05 January 2022
BY SCOTT M. GRAFFIUS | ScottGraffius.com
🔥 A new edition of this article (and visual) is here.
Click here to download this article as a PDF.
2022 Update
Social media marketing 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. When well-executed, it delivers 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, and a helpful metric is half-life. It’s the amount of time it takes for a post to receive half of its total engagement (such as likes, shares, and comments). The data can help inform the scheduling of posts.
This article reveals the lifespan (half-life) for posts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok, and Snapchat. Findings are based on an analysis of data from 21 sources: Adobe, Bit.ly, Business Insider, Espirian, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, Fanbooster (Traject), Google, Klout, Later, Moz, New York Times, Pinterest, Simply Measured, Snapchat, Social Media University—Global, TechniqueHow, The Online Advertising Guide, TikTok, University of Akron, WebFX, and Wiselytics. In cases where data sources for a platform reported different values, the average was applied. As detailed next, the half-life of posts varies by platform.
Twitter
The average half-life duration for tweets is 24 minutes. That's longer than the 21 minutes shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in 2021.
Facebook
The average half-life duration for Facebook posts is 50 minutes. That's longer than the 30 minutes shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in 2021.
Instagram
The average half-life duration for Instagram posts is 1,140 minutes (= 19 hours). That's unchanged from what was shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in 2021.
LinkedIn
The average half-life duration for LinkedIn posts is 1,440 minutes (= 24 hours). That's unchanged from what was shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in 2021.
YouTube
The average half-life duration for YouTube posts is 8,640 minutes (= 6 days). That's unchanged from what was shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in 2021.
Pinterest
The average half-life duration for Pinterest posts is 164,270 minutes (= 3.75 months). That's longer than the 3.50 months shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in 2021.
TikTok
The average half-life duration for TikTok posts is 0 minutes. Exceptions apply: TikTok posts instantly decay—except for viral content. That's unchanged from what was shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in 2021.
Snapchat
The average half-life duration for Snapchat posts is 0 minutes. Exceptions apply: Snapchat messages may disappear instantly or live up to 24 hours. That's unchanged from what was shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in 2021.
As shown, half-life values vary by platform. The data can help inform the scheduling of posts.
Permission Requests and Downloadable High-Resolution Versions of 'Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts: Update for 2022' Infographic-Visual
To request permission to use the 'Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts' visual shown at the top of this article, contact Scott M. Graffius.
High resolution versions of the image appearing at the top of this article are available at the following links: here for the JPG file and here for the PNG file.
How to cite: Graffius, Scott M. (2022). Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts. Version 2022. Available at ScottGraffius.com.
About Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, multi award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over $1.75 billion of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books, workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities including Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Gartner, Deloitte, Project Management Institute, IEEE, SANS Institute, U.S. Soccer Federation, English Institute of Sport, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Wrike, Bayer, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, United States Army, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, National University of Ireland Galway, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, and others. Graffius has spoken at 59 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.
His full bio is available here.
Connect with Scott on:
The short URL for this article is: https://bit.ly/social-22
#Branding #ContentMarketing #Digital #DigitalContent #DigitalMarketing #DigitalMedia #DigitalStrategy #DigitalTactics #Facebook #Halflife #HalflifeForPosts #Instagram #InternetMarketing #LifespanOfSocialMediaPosts #LinkedIn #Marketing #Pinterest #Posts #SEO #ShelfLifeOfPosts #Snapchat #Social #SocialMarketing #SocialMedia #SocialMediaMarketing #SocialMediaPlatforms #TikTok #Twitter #YouTube
© Copyright 2022 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.
🔥 A new edition of this article (and visual) is here.
Click here to download this article as a PDF.
2022 Update
Social media marketing 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. When well-executed, it delivers 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, and a helpful metric is half-life. It’s the amount of time it takes for a post to receive half of its total engagement (such as likes, shares, and comments). The data can help inform the scheduling of posts.
This article reveals the lifespan (half-life) for posts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok, and Snapchat. Findings are based on an analysis of data from 21 sources: Adobe, Bit.ly, Business Insider, Espirian, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, Fanbooster (Traject), Google, Klout, Later, Moz, New York Times, Pinterest, Simply Measured, Snapchat, Social Media University—Global, TechniqueHow, The Online Advertising Guide, TikTok, University of Akron, WebFX, and Wiselytics. In cases where data sources for a platform reported different values, the average was applied. As detailed next, the half-life of posts varies by platform.
The average half-life duration for tweets is 24 minutes. That's longer than the 21 minutes shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in 2021.
The average half-life duration for Facebook posts is 50 minutes. That's longer than the 30 minutes shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in 2021.
The average half-life duration for Instagram posts is 1,140 minutes (= 19 hours). That's unchanged from what was shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in 2021.
The average half-life duration for LinkedIn posts is 1,440 minutes (= 24 hours). That's unchanged from what was shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in 2021.
YouTube
The average half-life duration for YouTube posts is 8,640 minutes (= 6 days). That's unchanged from what was shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in 2021.
The average half-life duration for Pinterest posts is 164,270 minutes (= 3.75 months). That's longer than the 3.50 months shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in 2021.
TikTok
The average half-life duration for TikTok posts is 0 minutes. Exceptions apply: TikTok posts instantly decay—except for viral content. That's unchanged from what was shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in 2021.
Snapchat
The average half-life duration for Snapchat posts is 0 minutes. Exceptions apply: Snapchat messages may disappear instantly or live up to 24 hours. That's unchanged from what was shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in 2021.
As shown, half-life values vary by platform. The data can help inform the scheduling of posts.
Permission Requests and Downloadable High-Resolution Versions of 'Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts: Update for 2022' Infographic-Visual
To request permission to use the 'Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts' visual shown at the top of this article, contact Scott M. Graffius.
High resolution versions of the image appearing at the top of this article are available at the following links: here for the JPG file and here for the PNG file.
How to cite: Graffius, Scott M. (2022). Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts. Version 2022. Available at ScottGraffius.com.
About Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, multi award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over $1.75 billion of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from his books, workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities including Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Gartner, Deloitte, Project Management Institute, IEEE, SANS Institute, U.S. Soccer Federation, English Institute of Sport, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Wrike, Bayer, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, United States Army, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, National University of Ireland Galway, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, and others. Graffius has spoken at 59 conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Graffius a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech.
His full bio is available here.
Connect with Scott on:
The short URL for this article is: https://bit.ly/social-22
#Branding #ContentMarketing #Digital #DigitalContent #DigitalMarketing #DigitalMedia #DigitalStrategy #DigitalTactics #Facebook #Halflife #HalflifeForPosts #Instagram #InternetMarketing #LifespanOfSocialMediaPosts #LinkedIn #Marketing #Pinterest #Posts #SEO #ShelfLifeOfPosts #Snapchat #Social #SocialMarketing #SocialMedia #SocialMediaMarketing #SocialMediaPlatforms #TikTok #Twitter #YouTube
© Copyright 2022 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.
Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts: Update 2 for 2022
16 July 2022
BY SCOTT M. GRAFFIUS | ScottGraffius.com
🔥 A new edition of this article (and visual) is here.
Click here to download this article as a PDF.
Update 2 for 2022
Social media marketing 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. When well-executed, it delivers multiple benefits: improved brand and marketplace awareness, engagement with a worldwide audience, increased traffic, enhanced search engine optimization (SEO) rankings, and more.
When content is published online, relevance and engagement have a limited lifespan. The duration is of interest, and a helpful objective metric is half-life. It’s the amount of time it takes for a post to receive half of its total engagement (such as likes, shares, and comments). The data can help inform strategic and tactical decisions, such as the frequency/scheduling of posts.
Based on an analysis of data from 25 diverse sources, this article reveals the average lifespan (half-life) for posts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat, and blogs. Here are the sources: Adobe, Bit.ly, Business Insider, Emeritus, Espirian, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, Fanbooster (Traject), Forbes, Google, Ignite Social Media, Klout, Later, Moz, New York Times, Pinterest, Science.org, Sculpt - B2B Social Media Agency, Simply Measured, Snapchat, Social Media University—Global, TechniqueHow, The Online Advertising Guide, University of Akron, WebFX, and Wiselytics. In cases where data sources for a platform reported different values, the average was applied. As detailed next, the half-life of posts varies by platform.
As shown, half-life values vary by platform. The data can help inform the scheduling of posts.
Permission Requests and Downloadable High-Resolution Versions of 'Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts: Update 2 for 2022' Infographic-Visual
To request permission to use the 'Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts' visual shown at the top of this article, contact Scott M. Graffius.
High resolution versions of the image appearing at the top of this article are available at the following links: JPG file and PNG file.
How to cite: Graffius, Scott M. (2022, July). Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts. Update 2 for 2022. Available at ScottGraffius.com.
About Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, multi award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over $1.75 billion of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™. Content from his books (Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities including Microsoft, Oracle, Broadcom, Cisco, Gartner, Deloitte, EY, Project Management Institute, IEEE, SANS Institute, U.S. Soccer Federation, English Institute of Sport, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Wrike, Bayer, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, United States Army, United States National Park Service, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, National University of Ireland Galway, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, and others. Graffius delivers dynamic and engaging talks and workshops at public and private/corporate events. His engagements total 78 in-person and online conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. Graffius delights audiences with sessions on technology leadership and project, program, portfolio, and PMO management inclusive of agile, waterfall, and hybrid approaches. He uses everyday language and vibrant custom visuals to make complex topics clear, and he provides audiences with practical information they can use.
His full bio is available here.
Connect with Scott on:
The short URL for this article is: https://bit.ly/4-social
#Branding #Blogs #ContentMarketing #Digital #DigitalContent #DigitalMarketing #DigitalMedia #DigitalStrategy #DigitalTactics #Facebook #Halflife #HalflifeForPosts #Instagram #InternetMarketing #LifespanOfSocialMediaPosts #LinkedIn #Marketing #Pinterest #Posts #SEO #ShelfLifeOfPosts #Snapchat #Social #SocialMarketing #SocialMedia #SocialMediaMarketing #SocialMediaPlatforms #TikTok #Twitter #YouTube
© Copyright 2022 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.
🔥 A new edition of this article (and visual) is here.
Click here to download this article as a PDF.
Update 2 for 2022
Social media marketing 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. When well-executed, it delivers multiple benefits: improved brand and marketplace awareness, engagement with a worldwide audience, increased traffic, enhanced search engine optimization (SEO) rankings, and more.
When content is published online, relevance and engagement have a limited lifespan. The duration is of interest, and a helpful objective metric is half-life. It’s the amount of time it takes for a post to receive half of its total engagement (such as likes, shares, and comments). The data can help inform strategic and tactical decisions, such as the frequency/scheduling of posts.
Based on an analysis of data from 25 diverse sources, this article reveals the average lifespan (half-life) for posts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat, and blogs. Here are the sources: Adobe, Bit.ly, Business Insider, Emeritus, Espirian, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, Fanbooster (Traject), Forbes, Google, Ignite Social Media, Klout, Later, Moz, New York Times, Pinterest, Science.org, Sculpt - B2B Social Media Agency, Simply Measured, Snapchat, Social Media University—Global, TechniqueHow, The Online Advertising Guide, University of Akron, WebFX, and Wiselytics. In cases where data sources for a platform reported different values, the average was applied. As detailed next, the half-life of posts varies by platform.
- Twitter: The average half-life duration for tweets is 23 minutes. That's 1 minute shorter than the 24 minutes shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in January 2022.
- Facebook: The average half-life duration for Facebook posts is 60 minutes. That's 10 minutes longer than the 50 minutes shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in January 2022.
- Instagram: The average half-life duration for Instagram posts is 1,170 minutes (= 19.50 hours). That's 30 minutes longer than the 1,140 minutes shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in January 2022.
- LinkedIn: The average half-life duration for LinkedIn posts is 1,440 minutes (= 24 hours). That's unchanged from what was shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in January 2022.
- YouTube: The average half-life duration for YouTube posts is 8,640 minutes (= 6 days). That's unchanged from what was shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in January 2022.
- Pinterest: The average half-life duration for Pinterest posts is 164,270 minutes (= 3.75 months). That's unchanged from what was shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in January 2022.
- Snapchat: The average half-life duration for Snapchat posts is 0 minutes. Exceptions apply: Snapchat messages may disappear instantly or live up to 24 hours. That's unchanged from what was shown in the earlier analysis which was conducted in January 2022.
- Blogs: The average half-life duration for blog posts is 1,051,200 minutes (= 2 years). This is the first time blogs are included in the analysis.
As shown, half-life values vary by platform. The data can help inform the scheduling of posts.
Permission Requests and Downloadable High-Resolution Versions of 'Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts: Update 2 for 2022' Infographic-Visual
To request permission to use the 'Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts' visual shown at the top of this article, contact Scott M. Graffius.
High resolution versions of the image appearing at the top of this article are available at the following links: JPG file and PNG file.
How to cite: Graffius, Scott M. (2022, July). Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts. Update 2 for 2022. Available at ScottGraffius.com.
About Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, multi award-winning author, and international speaker. He has generated over $1.75 billion of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the founder, CEO, and principal consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™. Content from his books (Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities including Microsoft, Oracle, Broadcom, Cisco, Gartner, Deloitte, EY, Project Management Institute, IEEE, SANS Institute, U.S. Soccer Federation, English Institute of Sport, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Wrike, Bayer, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, United States Army, United States National Park Service, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, National University of Ireland Galway, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, and others. Graffius delivers dynamic and engaging talks and workshops at public and private/corporate events. His engagements total 78 in-person and online conferences and other events around the world, including Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. Graffius delights audiences with sessions on technology leadership and project, program, portfolio, and PMO management inclusive of agile, waterfall, and hybrid approaches. He uses everyday language and vibrant custom visuals to make complex topics clear, and he provides audiences with practical information they can use.
His full bio is available here.
Connect with Scott on:
The short URL for this article is: https://bit.ly/4-social
#Branding #Blogs #ContentMarketing #Digital #DigitalContent #DigitalMarketing #DigitalMedia #DigitalStrategy #DigitalTactics #Facebook #Halflife #HalflifeForPosts #Instagram #InternetMarketing #LifespanOfSocialMediaPosts #LinkedIn #Marketing #Pinterest #Posts #SEO #ShelfLifeOfPosts #Snapchat #Social #SocialMarketing #SocialMedia #SocialMediaMarketing #SocialMediaPlatforms #TikTok #Twitter #YouTube
© Copyright 2022 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.
Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts: Update for 2023
01 January 2023
BY SCOTT M. GRAFFIUS | ScottGraffius.com
For permission requests and high resolution versions of the 'Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts' visual, see below.
Click here to download this article as a PDF.
Update for 2023
In 2018, Scott M. Graffius first published data on the lifespan (half-life) of social media posts. As algorithms and other factors on platforms change over time¹, Graffius periodically updates the analysis. This is the update for 2023.
Digital marketing involves utilizing tools, processes, content, and techniques to advance goals such as traffic, visibility, and sales for individuals, brands, and businesses. An increasingly important form of digital marketing is social media marketing. It involves creating and sharing content on social media networks. When well-executed, it delivers multiple benefits, including:
When content is published online, relevance and engagement have a limited lifespan. An advantageous objective metric is half-life. It’s the amount of time it takes for a post to receive half of its total engagement (such as likes, shares, and comments). The data can help inform strategic and tactical decisions, such as the frequency/scheduling of posts.
Based on an analysis of data from 32 diverse sources listed below³, this article reveals the average lifespan (half-life) for posts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat, and blogs. In cases where data sources reported different values for a platform, the average was applied.
As detailed next, the half-life of posts varies by platform.
⋯⋯⋯
Snapchat is a multimedia instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc. A distinguishing feature of the platform is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before they become inaccessible to their recipients. Snapchat has 557,000,000 (557 million) active users.⁴
The average half-life duration for Snapchat posts is 0 minutes.³ Exceptions apply: Snapchat messages may disappear instantly or live up to 24 hours. That's unchanged from what was shown in the prior analysis which was conducted and published at ScottGraffius.com in July 2022.
⋯⋯⋯
Twitter is a microblogging and social networking service owned by X Holdings II, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of X Holdings I, Inc., wholly owned by Elon Musk), on which users post and interact with messages known as "tweets". Twitter has 436,000,000 (436 million) active users.⁴
The average half-life duration for tweets is 24 minutes.³ That's 1 minute longer than the 23 minutes shown in the prior analysis which was conducted and published at ScottGraffius.com in July 2022.
⋯⋯⋯
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It's the third most visited website. Facebook has 2,910,000,000 (2.91 billion) active users.⁴
The average half-life duration for Facebook posts is 105 minutes (= 1.75 hours).³ That's 45 minutes longer than the 60 minutes shown in the prior analysis which was conducted and published at ScottGraffius.com in July 2022.
⋯⋯⋯
Instagram is a photo and video sharing service owned by Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Users can browse other users' content by tag and location, view trending content, like photos, and follow other users to add their content to a personal feed. Instagram has 1,478,000,000 (1.478 billion) active users.⁴
The average half-life duration for Instagram posts is 1,200 minutes (= 20 hours).³ That's 30 minutes longer than the 1,170 minutes shown in the prior analysis which was conducted and published at ScottGraffius.com in July 2022.
⋯⋯⋯
LinkedIn is a business and employment-oriented online service. It's a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. LinkedIn claims to have 830,000,000+ (830 million) users.⁵ However, it does not report how many of those users are active users. Active users may be significantly less than the total number of users.
The average half-life duration for LinkedIn posts is 1,440 minutes (= 24 hours).³ That's unchanged from what was shown in the prior analysis which was conducted and published at ScottGraffius.com in July 2022.
⋯⋯⋯
YouTube is an online video sharing and social media platform. It's owned by Google, and it's the second most visited website, after Google Search. YouTube has 2,562,000,000 (2.562 billion) active users.⁴
The average half-life duration for YouTube posts is 12,672 minutes (= 8.8 days).³ That's 4,032 minutes longer than the 8,640 minutes shown in the prior analysis which was conducted and published at ScottGraffius.com in July 2022.
⋯⋯⋯
Pinterest is an image sharing and social media service designed to enable saving and discovery of information (specifically "ideas") on the internet using images — and on a smaller scale, animated GIFs and videos — in the form of pinboards. The service is operated by Pinterest, Inc. It has 444,000,000 (444 million) active users.⁴
The average half-life duration for Pinterest posts is 164,270 minutes (= 3.75 months).³ That's unchanged from what was shown in the prior analysis which was conducted and published at ScottGraffius.com in July 2022.
⋯⋯⋯
Blogs (a truncation of "weblogs") are discussion or informational websites consisting of discrete, often diary-style entries. Up until 2009, blogs were usually the work of an individual and each typically covered a single subject or topic. In the 2010s, multi-author blogs (MABs) from media outlets and others emerged. In addition to featuring the writings of multiple authors, MABs often span a range of topics. It is estimated that there are over 572,000,000 (572 million) blogs.⁶
The average half-life duration for blog posts is 1,051,200 minutes (= 2 years).³ That's unchanged from what was shown in the prior analysis which was conducted and published at ScottGraffius.com in July 2022.
As shown, half-life values vary by platform. The data can help inform strategic and tactical decisions, such as the frequency/scheduling of posts.
References / Sources:
How to cite this article:
Graffius, Scott M. (2023, January 1). The Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts: Update for 2023. Available at https://www.ScottGraffius.com. Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.13140/RG.2.2.19783.98722.
To request permission to use the 'Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts' visual shown at the top of this article (or any other content in this article), contact Scott M. Graffius. If approved, JPG (high resolution and low resolution) and PNG (high resolution and low resolution) versions of the image, if applicable, will be provided along with terms and conditions.
About Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, multi award-winning author, and highly sought-after international keynote speaker. He has generated over $1.75 billion of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the CEO and Principal Consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™. Content from his books, talks, workshops, and more have been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities. Select examples include Microsoft, Oracle, Broadcom, Cisco, Gartner, Project Management Institute, IEEE, U.S. Soccer Federation, Qantas, National Academy of Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. National Park Service, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Yale University, Warsaw University of Technology, and others. Graffius has delighted audiences with dynamic and engaging talks and workshops on agile, project management, and technology leadership at 82 conferences and other events across 24 countries.
His full bio is available here.
Connect with Scott on:
About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.
There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.
With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions, Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:
Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”
Winner of 17 first place awards.
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.
About Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change
Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.
Based on actual events, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.
The award-winning book by Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.
The short URL for this article is: https://bit.ly/social-23
#Branding #Blogs #ContentMarketing #Digital #DigitalContent #DigitalMarketing #DigitalMedia #DigitalStrategy #DigitalTactics #Facebook #Halflife #HalflifeForPosts #HalflifeOfSocialMedia #Instagram #InternetMarketing #LifespanOfSocialMediaPosts #LinkedIn #Marketing #Pinterest #Posts #SEO #ShelfLifeOfPosts #Snapchat #Social #SocialMarketing #SocialMedia #SocialMediaMarketing #SocialMediaPlatforms #Twitter #YouTube
© Copyright 2023 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.
For permission requests and high resolution versions of the 'Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts' visual, see below.
Click here to download this article as a PDF.
Update for 2023
In 2018, Scott M. Graffius first published data on the lifespan (half-life) of social media posts. As algorithms and other factors on platforms change over time¹, Graffius periodically updates the analysis. This is the update for 2023.
Digital marketing involves utilizing tools, processes, content, and techniques to advance goals such as traffic, visibility, and sales for individuals, brands, and businesses. An increasingly important form of digital marketing is social media marketing. It involves creating and sharing content on social media networks. When well-executed, it delivers multiple benefits, including:
- Improved brand and marketplace awareness,
- Engagement with a global audience — there are 4,700,000,000 (4.7 billion) active social media users worldwide²,
- Increased traffic,
- Enhanced search engine optimization (SEO) rankings,
- And more.
When content is published online, relevance and engagement have a limited lifespan. An advantageous objective metric is half-life. It’s the amount of time it takes for a post to receive half of its total engagement (such as likes, shares, and comments). The data can help inform strategic and tactical decisions, such as the frequency/scheduling of posts.
Based on an analysis of data from 32 diverse sources listed below³, this article reveals the average lifespan (half-life) for posts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat, and blogs. In cases where data sources reported different values for a platform, the average was applied.
As detailed next, the half-life of posts varies by platform.
⋯⋯⋯
Snapchat is a multimedia instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc. A distinguishing feature of the platform is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before they become inaccessible to their recipients. Snapchat has 557,000,000 (557 million) active users.⁴
The average half-life duration for Snapchat posts is 0 minutes.³ Exceptions apply: Snapchat messages may disappear instantly or live up to 24 hours. That's unchanged from what was shown in the prior analysis which was conducted and published at ScottGraffius.com in July 2022.
⋯⋯⋯
Twitter is a microblogging and social networking service owned by X Holdings II, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of X Holdings I, Inc., wholly owned by Elon Musk), on which users post and interact with messages known as "tweets". Twitter has 436,000,000 (436 million) active users.⁴
The average half-life duration for tweets is 24 minutes.³ That's 1 minute longer than the 23 minutes shown in the prior analysis which was conducted and published at ScottGraffius.com in July 2022.
⋯⋯⋯
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It's the third most visited website. Facebook has 2,910,000,000 (2.91 billion) active users.⁴
The average half-life duration for Facebook posts is 105 minutes (= 1.75 hours).³ That's 45 minutes longer than the 60 minutes shown in the prior analysis which was conducted and published at ScottGraffius.com in July 2022.
⋯⋯⋯
Instagram is a photo and video sharing service owned by Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Users can browse other users' content by tag and location, view trending content, like photos, and follow other users to add their content to a personal feed. Instagram has 1,478,000,000 (1.478 billion) active users.⁴
The average half-life duration for Instagram posts is 1,200 minutes (= 20 hours).³ That's 30 minutes longer than the 1,170 minutes shown in the prior analysis which was conducted and published at ScottGraffius.com in July 2022.
⋯⋯⋯
LinkedIn is a business and employment-oriented online service. It's a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. LinkedIn claims to have 830,000,000+ (830 million) users.⁵ However, it does not report how many of those users are active users. Active users may be significantly less than the total number of users.
The average half-life duration for LinkedIn posts is 1,440 minutes (= 24 hours).³ That's unchanged from what was shown in the prior analysis which was conducted and published at ScottGraffius.com in July 2022.
⋯⋯⋯
YouTube is an online video sharing and social media platform. It's owned by Google, and it's the second most visited website, after Google Search. YouTube has 2,562,000,000 (2.562 billion) active users.⁴
The average half-life duration for YouTube posts is 12,672 minutes (= 8.8 days).³ That's 4,032 minutes longer than the 8,640 minutes shown in the prior analysis which was conducted and published at ScottGraffius.com in July 2022.
⋯⋯⋯
Pinterest is an image sharing and social media service designed to enable saving and discovery of information (specifically "ideas") on the internet using images — and on a smaller scale, animated GIFs and videos — in the form of pinboards. The service is operated by Pinterest, Inc. It has 444,000,000 (444 million) active users.⁴
The average half-life duration for Pinterest posts is 164,270 minutes (= 3.75 months).³ That's unchanged from what was shown in the prior analysis which was conducted and published at ScottGraffius.com in July 2022.
⋯⋯⋯
Blogs (a truncation of "weblogs") are discussion or informational websites consisting of discrete, often diary-style entries. Up until 2009, blogs were usually the work of an individual and each typically covered a single subject or topic. In the 2010s, multi-author blogs (MABs) from media outlets and others emerged. In addition to featuring the writings of multiple authors, MABs often span a range of topics. It is estimated that there are over 572,000,000 (572 million) blogs.⁶
The average half-life duration for blog posts is 1,051,200 minutes (= 2 years).³ That's unchanged from what was shown in the prior analysis which was conducted and published at ScottGraffius.com in July 2022.
As shown, half-life values vary by platform. The data can help inform strategic and tactical decisions, such as the frequency/scheduling of posts.
References / Sources:
- Forbes's report, "A Guide to Social Media Algorithms and SEO."
- Statista's report, "Social Media - Statistics and Facts."
- We analyzed data from 32 diverse sources, including: Adobe, Bit.ly, Business Insider, Business Standard, Emeritus, Espirian, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions, Fanbooster (Traject), Fast Company, Forbes, Google, IEEE, Ignite Social Media, Klout, Later, Moz, New York Times, Pinterest, Royal Town Planning Institute, Science.org, Sculpt - B2B Social Media Agency, Simply Measured, Snapchat, Social Media Marketing, Social Media University—Global, TechniqueHow, The Online Advertising Guide, Université de Genève (University of Geneva), University of Akron, Washington Post, WebFX, and Wiselytics.
- Statista’s report, "Most Popular Social Networks Worldwide."
- LinkedIn.
- First Site Guide’s report, "Blogging Statistics 2022."
How to cite this article:
Graffius, Scott M. (2023, January 1). The Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts: Update for 2023. Available at https://www.ScottGraffius.com. Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.13140/RG.2.2.19783.98722.
To request permission to use the 'Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts' visual shown at the top of this article (or any other content in this article), contact Scott M. Graffius. If approved, JPG (high resolution and low resolution) and PNG (high resolution and low resolution) versions of the image, if applicable, will be provided along with terms and conditions.
About Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, multi award-winning author, and highly sought-after international keynote speaker. He has generated over $1.75 billion of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. Graffius is the CEO and Principal Consultant at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™. Content from his books, talks, workshops, and more have been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities. Select examples include Microsoft, Oracle, Broadcom, Cisco, Gartner, Project Management Institute, IEEE, U.S. Soccer Federation, Qantas, National Academy of Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. National Park Service, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Yale University, Warsaw University of Technology, and others. Graffius has delighted audiences with dynamic and engaging talks and workshops on agile, project management, and technology leadership at 82 conferences and other events across 24 countries.
His full bio is available here.
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About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.
There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.
With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions, Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:
- Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
- Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
- Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.
Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”
Winner of 17 first place awards.
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇭🇺 Hungary
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇮🇱 Israel
- 🇮🇹 Italy
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇳🇴 Norway
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇦🇪 UAE
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸 United States
About Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change
Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.
Based on actual events, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.
The award-winning book by Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- 🇦🇹 Austria
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸 United States
The short URL for this article is: https://bit.ly/social-23
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