Specs, formats and what actually moves reach
The formats, specs and diagnostics — without the invented statistics
Which aspect ratios actually matter, where the interface covers your text, what hashtags do now that discovery is recommendation-driven, and how to work out why your reach fell. Reference material, kept dated.
Five ratios cover everything
Per-platform size tables are longer than they need to be. Collapse the duplicates and there are five shapes worth producing — and most content plans need three of them.
- 9:16
- Stories, Reels, TikTok, ShortsFull-screen vertical video everywhere.
- 4:5
- Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn feedsThe tallest still image a feed will show without cropping.
- 1:1
- Every feed, and profile gridsThe safe default when one asset has to work in several places.
- 1.91:1
- Link previews on Facebook and LinkedInComes from the page's Open Graph image, not from the post.
- 16:9
- YouTube thumbnails, X in-streamThe only landscape ratio still worth producing.
Guides
The best time to post, and why the tables are useless
There is no universal best time, and the published tables are measured on somebody else's audience. Finding yours takes about twenty minutes.
Aspect ratios and safe zones
Five ratios cover everything. Getting the ratio right stops the crop; getting the safe zone right stops the interface eating your text.
What hashtags actually do now
They stopped being a distribution channel and became a labelling system. That changes what they are for, and how many you need.
Your reach dropped: how to work out why
Almost nobody is shadowbanned. Work through these in order — the answer is usually in the first three.