Understand data in Analytics

Oct 14, 2026
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Article updated: September 22, 2026

Understand data in Analytics

Every now and then, you may find that Hootsuite data and the analytics data you see on a social network differ. This is usually due to the way Hootsuite retrieves and displays data. Read on for a better understanding.

How Hootsuite collects analytics data

As soon as you add a social account, Hootsuite starts collecting data for it. We retrieve data at least once a day and automatically refresh your reports so that you get the latest data for your metrics.

We report metrics in the GMT timezone.

We have the following limitations:

We can only retrieve data for public posts. We can’t get data for unpublished (dark) posts.
For X accounts, we can only get data for the time an account is connected to Hootsuite. If an account disconnects and then reconnects, old data from when the account was connected will be available. However, we can’t collect or display data for the disconnected time. While we do our best to try to backfill data, events that happened when the account was disconnected can leave a data gap. Learn more about why social accounts disconnect and how to reconnect them.
Due to limitations from X, we cannot collect data for posts marked as "potentially sensitive."
Due to limitations from Meta, Hootsuite Facebook Page-level metrics differ from Facebook Business manager by one day. The Hootsuite metrics count a day ahead.
The YouTube Page subscribers metric is collected every 24 hours. YouTube does not provide backfill data for this metric. In addition, we cannot store YouTube data older than two years.

Note: If you transfer or reclaim a social account from one Hootsuite account to another, we retain that data so you don’t lose it.

How Hootsuite backfills data

As soon as you add or reconnect an account, Hootsuite starts to backfill data for it. Depending on the social network and account type, Hootsuite can backfill from 28 days to up to 12 months of historical data. For ad campaigns, ad sets, and ads, we backfill up to 30 days of historical data.

Note that it may take about an hour for Hootsuite to populate your views and reports when backfilling large amounts of historical data. When you're creating a report, we'll display a banner to let you know the maximum amount of time it will take to backfill your data.

Note: Hootsuite only collects historical data for Facebook campaigns, ad sets, and ads that were modified on the Meta platform 30 days prior to the ad account being connected. Hootsuite does not collect data for campaigns that were set to Paused or Inactive before that time and that have had no recent modifications. Therefore data for those campaigns won’t appear in historical Analytics reports.

See the table below for more information on how we backfill data for each social network.

Table with data backfill information for each type of metric and social network
Social network	Type of metric	Data backfill
Facebook Pages	Page-level metrics	12 months
	Post and comment metrics	12 months Up to 500 comments per post Up to 50 replies per comment
	Post-level metrics	12 months
	Private messages	12 months Up to 20,000 conversations with up to 20,000 messages each, none older than 12 months
Instagram Business (We cannot backfill data for Instagram stories)	Page-level metrics	12 months with the following exceptions: Up to 30 days for the following metrics: Page new followers, Lost followers, Page engagement, Page engagement rate, Reached audience, and Engaged audience metrics Current day only for the following metrics: Page total followers and Audience (this applies to all breakdowns for these metrics - age, city, country, gender, and language) Meta may delay our calculation of New and Lost followers metrics for up to 48 hours
	Post and comment metrics	12 months Up to 500 comments per post Up to 50 replies per comment We cannot backfill data for Instagram stories
	Post-level metrics	12 months
Threads	Page- and post-level metrics	Up to 12 months
TikTok	Page-level metrics	59 days with the exception of the Followers metric. TikTok does not provide backfill data for this metric
	Post and comment metrics	Up to 12 months
	Post-level metrics	Up to 12 months
LinkedIn Pages	Page-level metrics	12 months with the exception of the Page new followers and Followers metric. LinkedIn does not provide backfill data for these metrics
	Post and comment metrics	The last 1,050 posts in the past 12 months. Limit of 21 pages * 50 posts
	Post-level metrics	12 months
LinkedIn profiles	Posts	The last 1,000 posts in the past 12 months. Limit of 100 pages * 10 posts
LinkedIn profiles	Post-level metrics	12 months
X	Page-level metrics	Values for the current day
	Post and comment metrics	28 days
	Post-level metrics	28 days
Pinterest	Page- and post-level metrics	90 days
YouTube	Page- and post-level metrics	12 months YouTube allows Hootsuite to collect data every two days. This results in discrepancies in metrics for the days in between those two days. Day X and X+2 show metrics for those days. Day X+1 shows metrics equal to those collected on day X+2. If a post publishes right after we collect data, it could take up to four days for that post's data to update.

How Hootsuite stores data

Hootsuite stores numeric analytics data (for example, numbers of replies, comments, likes) indefinitely. Hootsuite stores analytics data (for posts) with the following limits:

Inbound posts and daily ads - 25 months
Outbound posts - Indefinitely (since January 2018)
Tables of posts - Indefinitely (since January 2018)
Page-level metrics - Indefinitely

How Hootsuite refreshes post-level data

Table with data refresh information for each social network
Social network	Data refresh
Instagram Business and Facebook , LinkedIn, TikTok Business	We refresh metrics for up to 12 months, regardless of the number of posts published during that time. Specifically, we refresh using the following intervals: For posts published in the last 30 days, we refresh metrics every 6 hours for Instagram Business and Facebook Pages(12 hours for Facebook reels) every 8 hours for TikTok Business; and every 24 hours for LinkedIn Profile and Company Pages. For posts published within 30 to 90 days, we refresh metrics every 2 weeks. For posts published within the last 12 months, we refresh metrics every 4 weeks.
Pinterest	We refresh metrics for all posts published within the last 90 days, regardless of the number of posts. Posts published during this period are refreshed every 2 weeks.
Threads	We refresh metrics every 8 hours for the last 30 days, regardless of the number of posts published. If you published fewer than 20 posts in the last 30 days, we refresh metrics for an additional 30 days at a time for up to 90 days, until we are able to find and refresh metrics for 20 posts. If fewer than 20 posts have been published in the last 90 days, then we refresh metrics for that number of posts, we don’t go beyond 90 days.
YouTube	We refresh metrics for the last 30 days, regardless of the number of posts published. Specifically, we refresh using the following intervals: For posts published in the last 30 days, we refresh metrics every 48 hours. If you published fewer than 50 posts in the last 30 days, we refresh metrics for an additional 30 days at a time for up to 12 months, until we are able to find and refresh metrics for 50 posts. If fewer than 50 posts have been published in the last 12 months, then we refresh metrics for that number of posts, we don’t go beyond 12 months.
X	For post-level metrics published in the last 28 days, we refresh metrics every 24 hours.

Hootsuite's data deletion process

The Data Deletion Process is the process by which personally identifiable customer data is deleted from Hootsuite systems on a regular basis. The deletion event is triggered either as the result of a customer request, or after a predefined time of inactivity as per our Data Retention Policy. Data must be deleted from Hootsuite systems within 28 days of a customer request for data deletion, or within 28 days after a user has been inactive for 24 months. This timeline is required to be followed for compliance requirements and to remain in line with Hootsuite policies.

The Data Deletion Process affects Hootsuite Analytics reports. When a member's Hootsuite account is deleted, all reports owned by that member are also permanently deleted. If you need to retain older reports, consider duplicating them for redundancy in ownership.

Troubleshoot data warnings

If you get an 'incomplete data' or 'partial data' warning, your data may not be complete. This warning appears when:

You are loading more than 500 accounts per social network into your report. In this case, some tiles in your report will include a partial data set. For a full report of all the accounts you selected, export or schedule an email export. Find out more about exporting a report.
A social account disconnects and reconnects in your selected time period. Because data collection stops when a social account disconnects, the data for that time period may be missing. Make sure to check data for the selected time period and, if applicable, the comparison time period.

Note: Data may show up in the grayed-out section of your report. This happens when Hootsuite attempts an automatic backfill (for Facebook, X, Instagram, and LinkedIn) after you reconnect a disconnected account. In this case, the data is still considered incomplete.

Troubleshoot data discrepancies

If you notice discrepancies between Hootsuite data and a social network's data, keep the following information in mind

API limitations and data aggregation

Social networks and Hootsuite may aggregate and calculate data differently due to API limitations. For example, Hootsuite displays Instagram reach metrics as a daily total, whereas Instagram displays reach metrics for a 7-day or 30-day period.

Time zone differences

Time zone differences can affect metrics data. For example, Instagram reports metrics in Pacific Standard Time (PST) while Hootsuite collects and reports metrics in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Estimated or in development metrics

Some Meta metrics are flagged as "estimated" or "in development." These metrics use sample data to improve speed or performance, which means the calculations can change over time. This may cause discrepancies between Hootsuite data and what you see in Meta's native tools.

Update frequency

Most Facebook metrics come from Facebook Insights. These metrics are only updated once a day.

Account disconnections

When your X account disconnects and reconnects, Hootsuite can't collect or display data during that disconnected period, but you can still see previously collected data for the account. When this happens, the metrics may not match what you are seeing on X. Learn how to reconnect a social account to Hootsuite.

Deleted posts

If you delete a post on a social network, Hootsuite may continue to display analytics data for that post, while the native platform no longer shows it. This can cause discrepancies between the two platforms.

Download and submit your Facebook and Instagram Insights data to Hootsuite support

We can help review your data when you want to investigate data discrepancies. To do this, we need you to create a support request that includes the following information:

Your Facebook Page’s Insights data. To download this data, ensure you are an admin for the Facebook Page. Then follow the steps in the Facebook help article How do I export my Facebook Page's Insights data?
Your Instagram Insights data. To share this data, access your data on your mobile device (check out the Instagram help article View account insights on Instagram for instructions) and then take screenshots of the data screens.

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Understand data in Analytics

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