Editorial selection
Top
Social Media Examiner leads HowSociable's selection of 17 social media marketing blogs, an editorial pick rather than a traffic ranking. 17 of the 17 blogs whose feeds we could read had posted in the 30 days before October 28, 2026; the highest count we measured was Hootsuite Blog's 38 posts in that window.
Feeds read October 28, 2026. Roster reviewed June 2026. Order: HowSociable's editorial view, not a measured score.
- Blogs selected
- 17
- Posted in the last 30 days
- 17
- Posts across their feeds, 30 days
- 263+
October 2026
The top 10
Our order. The date is each blog’s newest post when we read its feed.
Newest post
- 1Social Media ExaminerOctober 27, 2026
- 2Buffer ResourcesOctober 26, 2026
- 3Hootsuite BlogOctober 27, 2026
- 4Sprout Social InsightsOctober 22, 2026
- 5Social Media TodayOctober 27, 2026
- 6Search Engine Journal (Social)October 26, 2026
- 7Later BlogOctober 28, 2026
- 8Agorapulse BlogOctober 26, 2026
- 9SocialPilot BlogOctober 27, 2026
- 10Sendible InsightsOctober 23, 2026
The 17 blogs, with how active each one is
Newest post and posts in the previous 30 and 90 days were read from each blog’s own feed on October 28, 2026; a plus sign marks a feed that only showed part of the window.
| RankHowSociable's editorial order. A plus sign marks a count the feed could only show as a floor. | Blog | Category | Newest post | Posts, 30 days | Posts, 90 days | Share or preview |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Social Media ExaminerSocial Media Examiner | Independent publisherTutorialsPlatform newsPodcast | 18 | 25+ | ||
| 2 |  BufferBuffer Resources | Tool vendorData and benchmarksSchedulingSmall business | 15+ | 15+ | ||
| 3 |  HootsuiteHootsuite Blog | Tool vendorData and benchmarksAnalyticsTutorials | 38 | 100+ | ||
| 4 |  Sprout SocialSprout Social Insights | Tool vendorData and benchmarksStrategyAnalytics | 10+ | 10+ | ||
| 5 |  Informa TechTargetSocial Media Today | Independent publisherPlatform newsDaily news | 10+ | 10+ | ||
| 6 |  Search Engine JournalSearch Engine Journal (Social) | Independent publisherPlatform newsStrategySearch and discovery | 9 | 20+ | ||
| 7 |  LaterLater Blog | Tool vendorTutorialsCreators and influencersInstagram | 8 | 53 | ||
| 8 |  AgorapulseAgorapulse Blog | Tool vendorAgenciesEngagementReporting | 10+ | 10+ | ||
| 9 |  SocialPilotSocialPilot Blog | Tool vendorAgenciesSchedulingReporting | 26 | 68 | ||
| 10 |  SendibleSendible Insights | Tool vendorAgenciesTutorialsReporting | 10+ | 10+ | ||
| 11 |  SocialBeeSocialBee Blog | Tool vendorSchedulingSmall businessTools | 10+ | 10+ | ||
| 12 |  MetricoolMetricool Blog | Tool vendorAnalyticsReportingData and benchmarks | 28+ | 28+ | ||
| 13 |  PlanolyPlanoly Blog | Tool vendorSchedulingInstagramCreators and influencers | 34 | 43 | ||
| 14 |  BrandwatchBrandwatch Blog | Tool vendorSocial listeningAnalyticsEnterprise | 6 | 11 | ||
| 15 |  MeltwaterMeltwater Blog | Tool vendorSocial listeningPR and mediaEnterprise | 11 | 17 | ||
| 16 |  NP DigitalNeil Patel Blog | AgencyStrategyData and benchmarksSearch and discovery | 10+ | 10+ | ||
| 17 |  PlanablePlanable Blog | Tool vendorAgenciesCollaborationScheduling | 10+ | 10+ |
The list by the numbers
- most posts in 30 days
- Hootsuite Blog
- 38 posts dated inside the 30 days before October 28, 2026; Planoly Blog had 34.
- most recently updated
- Later Blog
- Newest post dated October 28, 2026; 16 of the 17 blogs had posted within a week of our read.
- blogs run by a software vendor
- 13
- 13 of the 17; the rest are 3 × Independent publisher and 1 × Agency.
- most common topic
- Data and benchmarks
- 5 of the 17 blogs, then Data and benchmarks and Scheduling with 5 each.
- feeds read
- 17
- All 17 blogs answered on October 28, 2026.
What stands out
Hootsuite’s blog published 38 posts in the 30 days before our read, the highest count among the feeds that showed their full month, with Planoly at 34 and SocialPilot at 26; Metricool’s API showed at least 28 English posts in its last fortnight alone, among posts in seven languages. Sixteen of the 17 blogs had posted within a week of 28 October 2026, so the roster is a set of working publications, not a list of names; the quietest are Brandwatch with six posts in the month, Later with eight and Search Engine Journal’s social desk with nine. Thirteen of the 17 blogs are run by companies that sell a scheduling, listening or analytics product, which is where most of the benchmark data in this field comes from; Social Media Examiner, Social Media Today and Search Engine Journal are the independent publishers and Neil Patel’s blog belongs to an agency. Data and benchmarks and scheduling are the most common topics, five blogs each. Convince & Convert, on the roster since June, left it this time: its site now redirects to its sister agency and the blog is gone.
Frequently asked questions
Answers about the selection, where the figures come from and how often they change.
How were these blogs chosen?
This is an editorial selection compiled by the HowSociable team, not a ranking by measured traffic, subscribers or any single score. We include blogs that publish regularly, cover social media marketing in depth and serve a clear audience, whether that is small businesses, agencies or in-house teams. The order reflects our view of general usefulness; reasonable people will rank them differently. We do not list audience figures because we have no verified numbers for them, and we will not invent any.
Which of these blogs publishes most often?
In the 30 days before our feed read of October 28, 2026, the highest counts we measured were Hootsuite Blog with 38 posts, Planoly Blog with 34 and Metricool Blog with at least 28. Where a feed only exposes its latest few posts the count is a floor, marked “at least”, so a blog with a floor may publish more than one with an exact count; the full table above sorts by posts in those 30 days or by the newest post.
Which blogs are run by software vendors, and does it matter?
13 of the 17 are published by companies that sell a scheduling, listening or analytics product: Buffer Resources, Hootsuite Blog, Sprout Social Insights, Later Blog, Agorapulse Blog, SocialPilot Blog, Sendible Insights, SocialBee Blog, Metricool Blog, Planoly Blog, Brandwatch Blog, Meltwater Blog, and Planable Blog. Their benchmark reports and “best time to post” studies are drawn from their own customers’ accounts, which makes them real data with a real sample bias toward the kind of business that buys that tool. The other 4 (Social Media Examiner, Social Media Today, Search Engine Journal (Social), and Neil Patel Blog) sell no such product, so the studies they publish draw on samples they gather rather than on a customer base.
Which blog should I read for platform news?
Social Media Examiner, Social Media Today, and Search Engine Journal (Social) are the ones we label “platform news”: they report feature changes, policy updates and creator tools as news; the tool vendors’ blogs explain the same changes later, with the how-to attached.
Which blogs publish their own data and benchmarks?
Buffer Resources, Hootsuite Blog, Sprout Social Insights, Metricool Blog, and Neil Patel Blog publish studies built on their own usage data or large post samples: engagement benchmarks by industry, posting-time analyses and annual reports. Read the sample description before quoting a figure; each vendor measures its own customers.
Why are there no traffic or subscriber numbers?
Because none can be verified. Blog traffic estimates from third-party tools are modelled, not measured, and subscriber counts are private to each publisher. What we can measure is activity: each blog’s own feed tells us when it last posted and how many posts it published in a given window, so that is what the table shows.
How current is this list?
The roster was last reviewed in June 2026, when every blog was checked to be live and publishing. The activity figures were read from each blog’s feed on October 28, 2026, and every feed answered. Posts, not visits: the counts are the posts dated inside the previous 30 and 90 days, as the feed reported them.
How this list is chosen and measured
The selection is the HowSociable team’s: blogs that publish regularly, cover social media marketing in depth and serve a clear audience, in the order we find most generally useful. It is not a ranking by traffic, subscribers or any score, and it carries no audience figures because none can be verified. The topic chips and the one-line descriptions are our reading of each blog; the “publisher kind” says who runs it, because a vendor’s benchmarks come from its own customers.
The activity figures are measured. On October 28, 2026 a script read each blog’s own feed (RSS or Atom, or the WordPress API where the site exposes it, which returns exact dates for the latest 100 posts) and counted the posts dated inside the previous 30 and 90 days, plus the newest post’s date. A feed that only exposes its latest few posts cannot show more than that window holds, so such a count is a floor and carries a plus sign. Meltwater publishes no feed; its dates come from its blog listing. A blog whose feed could not be read that day shows a dash.
The roster was last reviewed in June 2026, when every blog was checked to be live and publishing; Convince & Convert, whose site now redirects to its sister agency, left the roster at this read. Feed dates are the publisher’s own and a feed can later carry posts dated before the read, so the counts are a snapshot of what each feed showed that day; the next review replaces this read in full.
Source
Compiled and reviewed by the HowSociable editorial team; the activity figures are read from each blog’s own feed, linked in its preview.