The ‘When’ Behind Facebook Posts

Vitrue, a provider of social media publishing software, has released new data that focuses on the “when” behind Facebook posts and comments, providing marketers a guideline for the best times to engage with their communities. The white paper titled, “Managing Your Facebook Community: Findings on Conversation Volume by Day Hour and Minute”, examines conversational volume generated by brands and fans of brand pages, including peak times and patterns.

Virtue analyzed Facebook posts from August 10, 2007 to October 10, 2010 from more than 1,500 selected brand streams representing 1.64MM posts and 7.56MM comments. This data does not represent all Facebook posts made by a user, but actions made by brands and fans on a brand’s post to their news feed.

The data reveals how fans and brands conversational volume follows both time zones and daily behavioral patterns throughout the workweek. Below are a few key takeaways:

• Overall there is significant and continuous conversation volume throughout the day, starting at 8am EST to 5pm PST, with 3pm EST being the peak;
• All the days of the typical work week, Monday through Friday, share a very similar pattern of high volumes of conversation, with Wednesday being the peak; and
• Weekend activity is dramatically different with lower post activity from fans and brands on Sunday versus all other days.

The complete whitepaper is available for download (free registration required).