There’s two ways to address this question.
The first is to answer it literally, as in “time of day.” Between the hours of midnight and midnight, there are better or worse times to tweet. I’ll get to that in a moment.
The second way to answer this is to go a bit more figuratively. Like for instance, you probably shouldn’t tweet if you are hammered drunk and using the company phone.
Let’s start with time of day…
What time of day is best to tweet?
There is no single answer to this, so when you see infographics or articles that suggest there is a single time that is best, please ignore that crap and move on.
I’ve read that tweets have a lifespan of about 24 minutes, and that doesn’t take into account any proposed changes to the Twitter timeline.
Some tools will give you an idea of the best time to tweet. Try Buffer, or Socialbro, or if you just want to leave it in someone else’s hands, use Hootsuite’s AutoSchedule.
Maybe you should look at it manually?
You can look at when you are getting the most likes, retweets or mentions each day.
You can try a trial where each week you try a certain one hour window and compare the results.
You can look at when your audience that you are trying to reach is tweeting most.
There is no single answer. Use a tool to analyze it, or run your own tests.
Sorry, no silver bullet here today.
When is it a bad idea to tweet?
Don’t drink and tweet.
Don’t post when you’re angry, maybe sleep on it.
Don’t jump on trending topics you don’t understand.
And finally, be extra careful when it’s on behalf of your brand instead of your own personal account. But remember, everything you say is a representation of your brand.