Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts: Update 2 for 2022

BY SCOTT M. GRAFFIUS | ScottGraffius.com

Scott M Graffius - Lifespan HalfLife of Social Media - v July 2022 - LR for Blog



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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.

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As shown, half-life values vary by platform. The data can help inform the scheduling of posts.

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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.

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How to cite: Graffius, Scott M. (2022, July). Lifespan (Half-Life) of Social Media Posts. Update 2 for 2022. Available at ScottGraffius.com.



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About Scott M. Graffius

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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.

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