I recently read an article that had an awesome infographic , and it depicted what time of the day is best to post. Therefore, the article was based around time. Take a look at the infographic as it breaks down each social media site and what is the best time to post on each. While I found this article very useful, I also found it to be somewhat underdeveloped. What I mean here is that significant social media sites were missing. Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, and Youtube were all absent from this article. I found this extremely odd, because these are major social media platforms that are consistently growing in popularity. I also found it interesting that all of these platforms are mainly used for visual representation. Meaning we use these platforms to send visual types of information, such as pictures and videos. This made me wonder, is there a different set of “posting” rules to follow when using platforms that are mainly visual in nature?
Now the article states specific periods throughout the day that are good to post and bad to post. However, when it comes to using applications such as Snapchat is a message sent at 2am just as effective or seen just as positively as one sent at 2pm? In my opinion, yes and no. I think that these applications that are mainly used for visual representation can be just as effective if used in the wee hours of the morning or mid afternoon depending on the relationship the sender and the receiver of the message currently have with one another.
Okay, so what I mean here, is imagine it is 2am and you are receiving a Snapchat alert from…let’s say Social Media In’s and Out’s…advertising an infographic of their companies effectiveness as social media consultants. What is your reaction? Now, imagine the same scenario, but instead you receive a message from your significant other sending you some sort of heartfelt visual message. Now what is your reaction? My guess is your reaction would be very different if you received an advertisement at 2am versus a message from a loved one. The relationship matters! My point here is that the same rules do not apply to the sending and receiving of visual messages, such as through Instagram, Snapchat, Youtube, and Tumblr because concerning these types of messages the rules are unclear on what is acceptable and what is not. So when is the best time to send a visual message through these applications…it really depends on who you are and who you are sending it to!