Has it ever crossed your mind that the time of day you post on Twitter could have a major impact on the response you receive? Well it does.
In fact the difference can be as much as 100% - i.e. double the number of people that might respond. They key is to understand that Twitter is global and that the biggest user bases in different time zones have a significant effect on the exposure your tweets get.
Here, we take a look at when the optimum times are.
Because we're based in the UK we've based everything in here on GMT - Greenwich Mean Time. So, if you want to use these times for a foreign land (to us!) then make sure you calculate the time difference.
The busiest time on Twitter is GMT 1900-2100 (7pm to 9pm). It doesn't take a genius to figure out this is lunchtime in the USA and in most Pacific time zones.
The quietest time on Twitter is GMT 0700-0900 (7am to 9am). That's the midnight shift in the USA.
Getting those two out of the way, one of the best ways to gauge your likely response is to look at the mid periods - and show you the percentage shift in response you might expect when posting outside of them. Like this:
GMT 1300 (1pm) is mid-traffic time on Twitter. So, for people in the UK posting at lunchtime (when the boss isn't looking) you'll get an average response. Now, using this as the starting point we've shown you the sort of increase or decrease in response you can expect when posting outside of this time.
GMT 0800 - 1000 : 8am to 10am - 35% LESS traffic
GMT 1000 - 1230 : 10am to 12.30pm - 25% LESS traffic
GMT 1330 - 1700 : 1.30pm to 5pm - 20% MORE traffic
GMT 1600 - 2000 : 5pm to 8pm - 27% MORE traffic
GMT 2000 - 2300 : 8pm to 11pm - 11% MORE traffic
GMT 2300 - 0300: 11pm to 3am - 7% MORE traffic
GMT 0400 - 0800: 4am to 8am - 25% LESS traffic
So, go give it a try! Needless to say it doesn't account for peaks that might arise through global breaking news but it does mean anyone in any timezone can relatively accurately predict when the best time to post their content is. Look up GMT times, adjust the above times to your timezone - there you have it.
Globally, Twitter is still in relative infancy by comparison to other social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace.
You can use this technological youth well if you know where the major user base concentrations are and when they're online. For UK based Twitterers, the basic tips are simple:
1. Posting in the morning and through to 1pm will get you low to average responses overall.
2. If you can post through the afternoon, you'll notice an increase in responses.
3. Posting in the evening between 7pm and through to midnight will guarantee you're hitting the widest audience possible - though 7pm to 9pm is very much peak time.
Other Considerations
Do you really want to hit the world? If you're not after a global following - stick to your timezone.
Or, use them to target your audience by making sure you're tweeting when other UK users are. It's not nuclear physics to work it out, but you'd be surprised how many people post content that gets completely lost because they'd don't give the timing enough thought.
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