What's the best time to post a thread? ( US time )

[cluckcluckluke]

There seems to be so many threads these days ( I'm adding to the problem ) and many of my recent threads haven't had the amount of replies I used to get. I admit I never used to get a huge amount before but now I am getting even less.

I have put it down to my poor thread abilities and the time I post them. You see I am all the way down here, here being Australia and when ever I am on BYC, BYC is quiet and my threads get lost by the time it's morning for the US.

So my question is: What time ( US ) is best for high BYC activity?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Interesting question. I’m not sure what the time zone difference is but you probably have that under control. We have four different ones but I’ll respond based on work day.

I’ve certainly noticed more or less activity at different times. Friday afternoon is probably the slowest I’ve seen during the workweek. I guess everyone that sneaks time on the computer at work is thinking more about going home. Weekends can be pretty sporadic but I’ve noticed a correlation to weather on that. The nicer the weather the less the activity.

The highest levels of activity I’ve noticed are normally when people first get to work, then again at lunch break. There is another surge when people get home from work. There is some guessing in this. Nifty (forum owner) has probably done a much more detailed analysis of this. I’d be really surprised if he hasn’t since he has to meet peak demand. You could try pm’ing him. He’s friendly and doesn’t bite.

I don’t know if you want to hit peak demand periods or not though. Things move very quickly on here and your post can get buried. But there are more people here to respond. Tradeoffs.

I suggest you do somewhat like you did here. Give your posts a good title that will attract the attention of the people you want to answer. A generic “Help!” or “Question” is not going to get much attention. “Help with 1588 Incubator” or Question about Electric Fence” will do a lot more to attract the people you want to chat with.

I don’t follow certain forums but some people do, so try to get the question in the right section. Random Ramblings is probably a good choice for this one, but so would BYC Forums, Feedback and Announcements up at the top.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I know there are certainly more active times for the site, but I'm not sure if there are better times to post questions, since many people scan their favorite parts of the site for all new questions and will answer ones they feel they can.

I agree with the above poster that good titles make a difference. It also helps to do a quick search to find out if the question has already been answered. Sometimes posts go ignored because people have already answered them several times. Other times there just may not be enough people with enough experience to answer the particular question (Such is the case with really, really specific questions on occasion).

 

[cluckcluckluke]

I have now got all the times roughly figured, and I say roughly because we are in daylight savings, not sure if the US does that.
Gee you lot are way behind us, over in the Pacific Coast you are 19-21 hours behind us!

I think I will try Pming Nifty and see if he has some statistics I can see. If I am allowed to share would you two be interested in seeing anything Nifty might show?

I am thinking despite the high traffic and possible loss of posts that posting on a time when BYC is most active would bring more posters to your thread, especially if you where after an immediate response.
Personally I haven't made any recent threads requiring specific help regarding chickens. More making threads that in the hope will catch on and become more of an information/ chat thread rather than a thread that just gets it's answer and is over.
I have found that hatch-a-long threads always seem to be busy. I made one 5 weeks ago and although most people's hatches are done we are still passing information and answering questions.


Looks like I will have to work more on my tittles and see if Nifty can give me some times on activity.

 

[Fierlin1182]

Judging by the time stamps of new posts on the longer threads I follow, a lot of activity takes place at the delightful hour of 4 o'clock in the morning Adelaide time. Things start to get busy at around 11 in the evening (when I'm getting ready to go to bed) and the quietest time is about now (mid to late afternoon). So unless you want to pull a couple of all-nighters, I don't think there's any way to physically catch onto the BYC rush hour, however I've known and been part of many long threads (several hundred pages) which were a popular hangout for people from outside the US, or insomniacs within it, who were online at "weird" times (only weird for people living in certain timezones, which I think a lot of Americans seem to forget ) I'm not sure if any of my late night buddies still frequent BYC though...

It's actually pretty hard to start the longer threads in the social section (I talk from experience in GJF because apart from one or two, that is where all the chat threads I've been a part of are located, but I suppose the principles apply to all the other sections as well) if that's what you're going for, unless you either have a group of friends you dedicate the thread to and they'll always go there to post about anything, or it's the first of something very unique on BYC which makes everyone curious and wanting to join in (for example, see Crazy Pullets/Crazy Cockerels). Now these chat threads are so much more prevalent that making another one just doesn't seem to have any effect - if anything there's a reverse effect because newcomers are discouraged from posting there as they think the thread is "reserved" for the few members of that group. A few years ago there were only, like, five 100+ page threads that everyone would go to chat on, because a) there were fewer users and b) there were fewer threads.

That's why I think threads don't get as long these days and it's harder to start one that will last.

Also, posts don't necessarily have to be made during peak activity time to catch on, sometimes it's the posts that are made during long periods of forum silence which attract the most attention from all the "late night" (/mid-afternoon) lurkers who are waiting around for something new to appear.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Yay, I get to talk about data!!

While I don't know the best time to post to get the most replies (and I'm sure there are a million variables that impact if it's better to post about baby chicks one day / time, but better to post about feeding issues a different day / time) but I do know when most peeps are on BYC:




The first graphs shows daily stats for the past 2 months. You'll see a pattern in spikes and valleys. The spikes are almost always a Sunday and the valleys almost always Friday. So, the day when most people are on BYC and probably posting the most = Sunday

Second graph shows hourly stats. The peak time is 6:00 PM Pacific Time and the valley is midnight. So, the most people are browsing BYC at 6:00 pm PST.

So, do you post right at 6:00 pst, or a few minutes or hours before? It would be an interesting test.

IMO, timing is a small part of it the replies to posts. There are some tips in this thread that might help... the biggest being having a great subject line of your topic: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/447629/best-practices-for-starting-a-new-topic-getting-help

 

[Arielle]

Yay, I get to talk about data!!

While I don't know the best time to post to get the most replies (and I'm sure there are a million variables that impact if it's better to post about baby chicks one day / time, but better to post about feeding issues a different day / time) but I do know when most peeps are on BYC:




The first graphs shows daily stats for the past 2 months. You'll see a pattern in spikes and valleys. The spikes are almost always a Sunday and the valleys almost always Friday. So, the day when most people are on BYC and probably posting the most = Sunday

Second graph shows hourly stats. The peak time is 6:00 PM Pacific Time and the valley is midnight. So, the most people are browsing BYC at 6:00 pm PST.

So, do you post right at 6:00 pst, or a few minutes or hours before? It would be an interesting test.

IMO, timing is a small part of it the replies to posts. There are some tips in this thread that might help... the biggest being having a great subject line of your topic: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/447629/best-practices-for-starting-a-new-topic-getting-help

I have often wondered this-- a graph is so visual of the traffic experience. THough I can see even at midnight a few of us are still visiting!!

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Thank you very much Nifty-Chicken. Yes very helpful

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Now all I have to do is work on a killer tittle!