Half-Life for Posts on Different Social Media Platforms
10 December 2018
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.
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.
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.
© 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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.
