LineupsOPEN CALL FOR DATA CONTRIBUTORSRice University D2K Lab (opens in a new tab)

When's the best time to post? Get an answer no single portfolio can produce.

No one operator has enough accounts for a trustworthy posting curve. Lineups and Rice D2K are combining read-only Instagram history across residential communities to build one. Contribute yours — get the shared findings, and first access when the model lands in Lineups.

THE FINDINGS

Shared study results at semester's end

FIRST ACCESS

When the model lands inside Lineups

A USABLE ANSWER

A curve your own data cannot produce

ENGAGEMENT BY DAY & HOUR · ILLUSTRATIVE
Generic 'best times' assume every community peaks together. They don't.
WHY LINEUPS IS BEHIND THIS

Content Planner already answers what to post. This is how it learns when.

Lineups Content Planner helps property teams decide what to post and put it on a calendar. The missing piece is evidence for timing. One company's accounts only cover so many markets and community types — a trustworthy posting curve needs a bigger sample than any single portfolio has. That's why this is a multi-contributor Rice D2K study, not a Lineups-only dataset. Contributors see the model first when it lands in Lineups.

See Content Planner
WHAT YOU GET

What you walk away with

THE FINDINGS

The shared results, at no cost

Contributors get the aggregate study findings at the end of the semester — posting-time patterns from the combined dataset, not a sales deck.

FIRST ACCESS

When the model lands in Lineups

Contributors are first in line when the posting-time model ships inside Lineups. You do not need to be a customer today.

THE SAMPLE

A curve your own accounts cannot produce

No one portfolio has enough accounts for a trustworthy posting curve. Every additional market and community type is what makes the answer usable.

THE PROBLEM

Good content, published at times nobody ever tested

Property teams post consistently. Timing usually comes down to convenience, or a blog post about social media in general — not evidence for a specific community, market, or the residents it's trying to reach.

THE PROJECT

A model that learns what actually varies between accounts

A Rice D2K student team is spending the semester building a model that recommends the best day and time for a given community — from the signals that differ account to account, not one industry-wide rule of thumb.

SIGNAL 01

Follower count

Audience size shifts when people are online.

SIGNAL 02

Location

Market and time zone change the whole curve.

SIGNAL 03

Topic & format

A tour reel and a resident event don't behave alike.

SIGNAL 04

Caption

Language and length carry signal too.

WHAT WE'RE ASKING FOR

Read-only access. No exports, no spreadsheets, no work for your team.

You grant read access to your community Instagram accounts and we pull the historical data ourselves. Read access means we can see — and never post, change, or delete anything.

DATA HANDLING

Data is anonymized or aggregated before it reaches the student team, and access can be revoked at any time. Governed by Rice University's standard sponsored research agreement and NDA — never resold, never used for advertising, never shared outside the research team. If your policy rules out granting access, we'll gladly take an export instead.

01

Post dates and times

When each post went live, historically.

02

Captions

Language and length are part of the model.

03

Engagement metrics

Likes, comments, and reach per post.

CONTRIBUTE YOUR DATA

Contribute your accounts. Get the answer.

We'll follow up with the Rice NDA and the steps to grant Instagram read access. Nothing to export on your end.

September 25 — the model is built on whatever data is in by then. Access is revocable at any time.

Contribute Your Data

You don't need to be a Lineups customer. No obligation — we'll reply with the Rice NDA and next steps.

FAQ

Questions contributors ask first

No. Contributing data is free, and there is no fee at any point in the project.

HAVE A DIFFERENT QUESTION?

Suggest the next D2K capstone

Best Time to Post is one project. If you have another multifamily problem worth a semester of Rice data science, submit it on the partnership page.

Submit an Idea