Atlas Obscura engagement report
@atlasobscura - 392K followers on X
Measured over 56 original posts from a 30-day window, last computed on September 29, 2026.
Engagement
A typical post picks up 18 interactions against 392K followers, an engagement rate of 0.004%. Measured over 56 original posts, its engagement rate beats 24% of 20,444 tracked accounts of a similar size. That is a reason to look at how the audience behaves - reply depth, saves, whether the followers are recent - rather than a conclusion about it on its own. Posts are seen about 6.5K times each, and 0.27% of those impressions turn into an interaction. That is about 1.66% of the follower count, which is the gap between an audience on paper and an audience in a timeline. Posting runs at about 1.9 posts a day over the last 30 days, with activity on almost every day in the window. Most posts go out around 15:00 UTC, and Tuesday is the busiest day of the week. Of the 56 posts sampled, 80% carry an image or video and 95% link out. The account's strongest tracked post pulled 829 interactions, about 46x its own typical post.
Measured over 56 original posts from a 30-day window, last computed on September 29, 2026.
Compared with accounts its own size
Atlas Obscura's engagement rate beats 24% of the tracked X accounts closest to it in follower count (20,444 accounts, accounts of similar size (decile 10 of 10)). A percentile is spread evenly by construction, so 50 really is the middle of that group and 90 really is its top tenth.
On engagement per impression rather than per follower it beats 19% of the same group. When those two numbers disagree, the gap is about how far its posts travel rather than how people react to them.
Where this sits in the catalog
At 0.004%, Atlas Obscura sits above the 10th percentile of the 205,261 accounts in this comparison. That places it in the bottom 25% band, which runs below 0.024%.
Show the percentile table
| Percentile | Engagement rate |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | 0.004% |
| 25th percentile | 0.024% |
| 50th percentile | 0.143% |
| 75th percentile | 0.678% |
| 90th percentile | 2.55% |
| 99th percentile | 82.4% |
This ruler is the whole measured catalog, not a size-matched group: it shows where the raw rate falls across every account we can measure, all of which are large. For a like-for-like comparison, read the size-band percentile above instead. See how the bands are built
Posting timing
This account posts most often around 15:00 UTC, and Tuesday is its busiest day of the week. The bars below are the catalog-wide pattern, with this account's own busiest slot marked. They do not show how this account performs at each hour: we keep one aggregate per account, not one per hour, so that measurement does not exist in our data.
Show engagement by hour posted, utc as a table
| Hour (UTC) | Vs author median | Posts |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00 UTC | -1% | 89K |
| 01:00 UTC | -2% | 90K |
| 02:00 UTC | -3% | 88K |
| 03:00 UTC | -4% | 94K |
| 04:00 UTC | -5% | 76K |
| 05:00 UTC | -4% | 75K |
| 06:00 UTC | -5% | 86K |
| 07:00 UTC | -5% | 93K |
| 08:00 UTC | -4% | 108K |
| 09:00 UTC | -4% | 124K |
| 10:00 UTC | -3% | 129K |
| 11:00 UTC | -3% | 141K |
| 12:00 UTC | -3% | 154K |
| 13:00 UTC | -3% | 167K |
| 14:00 UTC | -4% | 173K |
| 15:00 UTC | -2% | 176K |
| 16:00 UTC | -3% | 171K |
| 17:00 UTC | -3% | 159K |
| 18:00 UTC | -2% | 149K |
| 19:00 UTC | -2% | 141K |
| 20:00 UTC | -1% | 131K |
| 21:00 UTC | 0% | 116K |
| 22:00 UTC | -2% | 100K |
| 23:00 UTC | -1% | 90K |
Show engagement by day of week as a table
| Day | Vs author median | Posts |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday | +5% | 393K |
| Monday | +1% | 483K |
| Tuesday | -2% | 520K |
| Wednesday | -3% | 472K |
| Thursday | -2% | 430K |
| Friday | -3% | 447K |
| Saturday | +2% | 393K |
Formats this account uses
Its own posting mix on the left, and what each of those formats does across every account we track on the right. Only formats where the effect clears our publish test appear here, so an empty row is a format we could not measure rather than one that does nothing.
| Format | This account | Catalog effect | 95% interval | Accounts behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image or video | 80% of posts | +111% | +108% to +115% | 34K |
| Outbound link | 95% of posts | -41% | -42% to -40% | 32K |
| Typical length | - | +15% | +14% to +16% | 32K |
- 80% of this account's sampled posts carry an image or video. Across the catalog, posts with an image or video run 111% above the same accounts' other posts.
- 95% of its posts carry a link off X. Across the catalog, posts with an outbound link run 41% below the same accounts' other posts, so a large share of this account's output sits in the weakest bucket we measure.
- Its average post runs 526 characters, which falls in the over 280 characters band. Across the catalog, posts over 280 characters run 15% above the same accounts' other posts.
These are catalog-wide differences applied to this account's own posting mix, not a measurement of how each format performs for this account specifically. We keep one median per account, not one per format per account, so the second thing is not something this data can tell you.
Best tweets
- Sep 7, 202646x their median
The New York Academy of Medicine maintains a collection of extremely rare ivory anatomical manikins from the 17th century. The term “manikin,” we should note, denotes a human figure designed for medical simulation, whereas a “mannequin” is normally relegated to matters of fashion. According to Anne Garner, curator of rare books and manuscripts at the academy, there are about 100 of these ivory manikins left in the world. Male physicians of the era likely collected them as status symbols, Garner says.
- Sep 27, 20264.3x their median
⛪ For nearly 150 years, one staircase in Santa Fe has been surrounded by a story that sounds almost too strange to be true. When the Sisters of Loretto needed a way to reach their chapel’s choir loft, they reportedly prayed for help.✨ Soon after, a mysterious stranger arrived and built the staircase, working in private before disappearing without a name. 👀 The sisters believed it was a miracle, while later researchers have searched for a more earthly explanation. Even the staircase’s materials and construction remain debated. 🔨 What’s your theory? 👀 Explore the mystery at the link: https://t.co/LXQTqmFSf3
- Sep 21, 20263.8x their median
Hidden in the Massachusetts woods, the Upton Chamber is a mysterious stone chamber that has puzzled researchers for generations. A 14-foot-long stone tunnel leads into the chamber, opening into a dark, beehive-shaped room. It’s one of hundreds of mysterious stone chambers found across New England, but their origins remain debated. ✍🏻Some researchers believe the Upton Chamber was built by early European settlers as a root cellar or storage space. Others have argued that it could be much older. A 2015 analysis estimated that the chamber was constructed sometime between 1350 and 1625, adding another twist to the debate over its origins. Whatever its purpose, this mysterious Massachusetts chamber still has no definitive explanation. Would curiosity win out over caution for you? 👀 🪨Explore the Upton Chamber at the link: https://t.co/9gKW4pLquJ
- Sep 3, 20263.1x their median
🇮🇹 Pompeii has streets, shops, crosswalks, and an astonishing number of stone penises. Look closely around the ancient city and you’ll find phalluses carved into roads, walls, doorways, and even above bread ovens. Tour guides have long repeated a particularly memorable explanation: They were ancient advertisements, with the phalluses acting as arrows pointing visitors toward Pompeii’s brothels. Classicist Mary Beard has offered another possibility: Perhaps their abundance simply reflects a deeply masculine society that was far more comfortable displaying erotic imagery than many people are today.
- Aug 24, 20262.7x their median
🐈🏠 In Bern, Switzerland, cats don’t have to wait around for someone to open the front door. They have their own architecture. Look closely at the city’s apartment buildings and you’ll spot homemade “cat ladders” climbing toward windows and balconies. Some are little more than wooden planks or pegs attached to drainpipes. Others zigzag several stories through the air, connect rooftops to windowsills, or even take the form of tiny spiral staircases complete with perching platforms. Their purpose is simple: giving apartment-dwelling cats the freedom to come and go on their own. See more: https://t.co/YZUAX98j6y
- Aug 19, 20262.7x their median
🥚 The world’s largest egg (no, it’s not an ostrich egg, and no, you can’t eat it) is located inside Chicago’s Field Museum, which with over 60,000 eggs, is one of the largest such collections in the world. How does learning about an egg this big help with species conservation? Associate curator John Bates explains.
- Sep 4, 20262.5x their median
🌍 The Hunt-Lenox globe is the second-oldest surviving terrestrial globe and also the oldest known globe to depict the Americas. The globe is covered in hidden details, including the Latin phrase, HC SVNT DRACONES, or “here be dragons.” Learn more about the Hunt-Lenox globe from Michael Inman, curator of rare books at the New York Public Library.
- Sep 2, 20262.4x their median
🎨🌲 Bob Ross painted more than 1,000 landscapes for The Joy of Painting. So where did all those happy little trees end up? Most didn’t wind up in museums or private collections. Instead, they were carefully stored in numbered cardboard boxes at Bob Ross Inc. in an unassuming Virginia office park, alongside row after row of mountains, cabins, waterfalls, and, of course, happy little trees. And they weren’t for sale. More here: https://t.co/TEHWy2rO3a
- Sep 25, 20262.3x their median
🍲 Soup has been keeping people alive and cozy for a very, very long time. The first known pot of soup dates back roughly 20,000 years, when prehistoric humans boiled bones and other animal parts in early cooking vessels. Since then, cultures around the world have found their own ways to turn a simple pot of simmering ingredients into something worth seeking out. 🥄 And some of the most interesting soups come with a twist you probably wouldn't expect. 👀 If you're the kind of person who plans a trip around food, this list might give you a few new destinations to add to your map. ✈️🍲 Which one would you most want to try? 😋 Explore the world's best soup spots at the link:https://t.co/9bP0s7pV1K
- Aug 20, 20262.3x their median
Karl De Smedt has over 100 sourdough starters from around the world, making him the head librarian of the world's only Sourdough Library. These specimens bubble away in refrigerators, but Karl also bakes with them to understand their nuanced flavors and characteristics. https://t.co/rdugA9kBp5
Ranked by total interactions across everything we have tracked for this account, which is a longer history than the 30-day window the rates above use. The multiple compares each post to this account's own median.
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Reading these numbers
A typical post picks up 18 interactions against 392K followers, an engagement rate of 0.004%. Measured over 56 original posts, its engagement rate beats 24% of 20,444 tracked accounts of a similar size. That is a reason to look at how the audience behaves - reply depth, saves, whether the followers are recent - rather than a conclusion about it on its own. Posts are seen about 6.5K times each, and 0.27% of those impressions turn into an interaction. That is about 1.66% of the follower count, which is the gap between an audience on paper and an audience in a timeline. Posting runs at about 1.9 posts a day over the last 30 days, with activity on almost every day in the window. Most posts go out around 15:00 UTC, and Tuesday is the busiest day of the week. Of the 56 posts sampled, 80% carry an image or video and 95% link out. The account's strongest tracked post pulled 829 interactions, about 46x its own typical post.
- What is Atlas Obscura's engagement rate on X?
- Atlas Obscura (@atlasobscura) has an engagement rate of 0.004%, based on the median interactions across 56 original posts from the last 30 days against 391,575 followers. Replies, reposts and quote-posts of other people are excluded from that sample.
- Is that a good engagement rate?
- At 0.004%, Atlas Obscura sits above the 10th percentile of the 205,261 accounts in this comparison. Those comparison accounts are all large ones, because our scanning cadence is weighted towards big accounts, so this is a ranking among peers of similar scale rather than a ranking across X.
- Does @atlasobscura have real engagement?
- Its engagement rate beats 24% of the tracked X accounts closest to it in follower count (20,444 accounts), which puts it in the bottom quarter for its size group. Ranking inside a size band matters because engagement rate falls as accounts grow, so a raw rate would mostly re-measure the follower count. It is a starting point for a look at follower quality, not a verdict on it.
- When does @atlasobscura post?
- Most posts go out around 15:00 UTC, and Tuesday is its busiest day, at roughly 1.87 posts per day across the measured window.