Happy Wednesday, social pros!

Do you know when the best time to post on social media is for your pages/profiles? Well, there’s no one best answer that applies across the board. I’ve never been big on telling our clients that they need to post at a specific time or another. There are so many factors that come into play for each different platform, profile, business page, etc.

That being said, Hootusite recently released their annual findings based on content shared using their platform, so it’s worth at least discussing some trends they found.

Take what you read below with a grain of salt. Not everything will apply to you. It’s always best to look at your individual analytics to make that determination for yourself.

My general rule of thumb when I’m “forced” to answer the question of when is the best time is this: think about when your audience is scrolling endlessly on their phones and try to post at those times (morning when laying in bed/before work, lunch breaks, after dinner, etc.)

But before we get into the breakdown, check out this week’s Social Media Journal sponsor:

A recent comprehensive study by Hootsuite analyzed over 1 million social posts across various industries and platforms to determine the optimal posting times for maximum engagement in 2025.

The study found that 8:00 AM on Wednesdays is generally the best time to post on social media in 2025. However, each platform has its own optimal posting window:

Remember that social media is constantly evolving, so regular analysis and adaptation are essential for maintaining engagement.

So X went down this week, and suddenly we're all geopolitical analysts. Isn't that just the way of things in 2025? You log on for some cat videos and hot takes about the latest Netflix show, and instead, you're thrust into a bizarre international whodunit starring the world's richest man and mysterious hacker collectives.

Let's get one thing straight: social media platforms go down. They crash, they sputter, they take unexpected naps. It happens to the best of them. But when X hiccups, it's never just a technical glitch anymore—it's a conspiracy, an attack, a narrative.

When the platform started flickering off and on like a faulty light bulb, Elon Musk didn't waste any time pointing fingers. Ukraine, he declared, was the culprit. Not just any Ukrainians, mind you, but a coordinated group with "a lot of resources." Because apparently, a nation fighting for its very existence has nothing better to do than take down a social media platform for a few hours.

I don't know about you, but if I were knee-deep in an existential territorial conflict, disrupting Elon's digital playground wouldn't exactly top my to-do list. Yet according to Musk, that's precisely what happened.

Meanwhile, cybersecurity experts were tracing the attack to "Dark Storm," a hacker collective with Russian connections and pro-Palestinian sympathies. You know, the kind of group that actually specializes in this sort of digital mayhem and has a track record of similar attacks.

But why let facts get in the way of a convenient narrative?

Here's where things get sticky. X isn't just a platform anymore—it's become Musk's personal megaphone, policy playground, and political chess piece. When the lines between a billionaire's business interests and political agenda blur this thoroughly, every technical hiccup transforms into a geopolitical statement.

The timing is certainly... interesting. Musk has been vocally pushing for Ukraine to hold elections (a practical impossibility during wartime) and negotiate peace terms that would essentially hand territory to Russia. Then his platform gets attacked, and he immediately blames... Ukraine?

It's like accusing your neighbor of slashing your tires while they're literally fighting off a home invader. Not impossible, I suppose, but definitely requiring some Olympic-level mental gymnastics.

This incident highlights the precarious reality of our digital town squares. When major communication platforms become the personal property of individuals with explicit political agendas, we're all just characters in someone else's story.

X's vulnerability to this attack also speaks volumes about the platform's infrastructure. Cost-cutting has consequences, especially in cybersecurity. When you trim the fat, sometimes you slice into muscle too. The result? A platform more susceptible to attacks, whether they come from Ukraine, Russia, or teenagers in basements with too much time on their hands.

For users, this creates a strange new reality: your social media experience is now inextricably linked to the political whims of its owner. Post a meme, get caught in geopolitical crossfire. Share a thought, become unwitting ammunition in someone else's war of words.

What we're witnessing isn't just about X, or Musk, or even this particular outage. It's about the evolution of social media from neutral platforms to political instruments. It's about how quickly technical explanations get overshadowed by convenient narratives. And it's about how we, the users, navigate these increasingly murky waters.

Remember when social media was just about sharing photos and reconnecting with high school friends you'd rather have forgotten? Those were simpler times. Now we're all amateur political analysts, cybersecurity experts, and reluctant participants in billionaires' pet projects.

So the next time X (or any platform) goes dark, maybe the question isn't just "who did it?" but rather "whose story are we being told, and why?" Because in the digital age, outages might be temporary, but the narratives they spawn have staying power.

And that might be the most concerning part of all.

Wondering how you’re doing on the social media front? We’ve got you covered! We’re offering you a FREE social media audit of all your profiles!

We’ll take a deep dive into your accounts, looking at your profile setup and how your posts are doing. We’ll then provide you expert feedback and recommendations to help take your accounts to the next level.

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