ESA Operations engagement report
@esaoperations - 334K followers on X
Measured over 26 original posts from a 30-day window, last computed on September 3, 2026.
Engagement
A typical post picks up 98 interactions against 334K followers, an engagement rate of 0.029%. Measured over 26 original posts, its engagement rate beats 43% of 6,874 tracked accounts of a similar size, which puts it in the middle of its size range rather than at either end. Posts are seen about 7.8K times each, and 1.26% of those impressions turn into an interaction. That is about 2.33% of the follower count, which is the gap between an audience on paper and an audience in a timeline. Posting runs at about 1.3 post a day over the last 30 days, with activity on roughly 57% of days. Most posts go out around 12:00 UTC, and Thursday is the busiest day of the week. Of the 26 posts sampled, 88% carry an image or video and 58% link out. The account's strongest tracked post pulled 860 interactions, about 8.8x its own typical post. Recurring topics include #bepicolombo, #mercury, #esa.
Measured over 26 original posts from a 30-day window, last computed on September 3, 2026. Recurring tags: #bepicolombo, #mercury, #esa.
Compared with accounts its own size
ESA Operations's engagement rate beats 43% of the tracked X accounts closest to it in follower count (6,874 accounts, accounts of similar size (decile 8 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 54% 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 0.029%, ESA Operations sits above the 25th percentile of the 66,128 accounts in this comparison. That places it in the below the median band, which runs 0.016% to 0.1%.
Show the percentile table
| Percentile | Engagement rate |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | 0.002% |
| 25th percentile | 0.016% |
| 50th percentile | 0.1% |
| 75th percentile | 0.499% |
| 90th percentile | 2.09% |
| 99th percentile | 119.9% |
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 12:00 UTC, and Thursday 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 | 88% of posts | +111% | +108% to +115% | 34K |
| Outbound link | 58% of posts | -41% | -42% to -40% | 32K |
| Typical length | - | no effect | -2% to -1% | 42K |
- 88% 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.
- 58% 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 266 characters, which falls in the 180 - 280 characters band. Across the catalog, posts of 180 to 280 characters match the same accounts' other posts almost exactly.
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 3, 20268.8x their median
A last selfie, 3.3 million km from Mercury ๐ธ @BepiColombo's Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) has taken one last set of snapshots before it separates today from the science orbiters, @ESA's Bepi and @JAXA_en's Mio, which will continue their journey to Mercury. Farewell, robot friend ๐ ๐ฅน @JAXA_MMO @ESA_Bepi @ESA_MTM @ISAS_JAXA_EN 1/2
- Sep 3, 20265.1x their median
ACQUISITION OF SIGNAL CONFIRMED! ๐๐ฐ๏ธ #BepiColombo telemetry shows the Mercury Transfer Module has successfully separated from the spacecraft stack! โ First step of Mercury arrival phase - complete! ๐ Next stop: Mercury orbit insertion for MPO and Mio in November! @ESA @JAXA @BepiColombo @ISAS_JAXA_EN @esascience #Mercury
- Sep 3, 20262.7x their median
โณ The countdown is over. #BepiColombo's Mercury Transfer Module should have now separated from the spacecraft, a key step in the mission's journey towards orbiting #Mercury. ๐ฐ๏ธโ๏ธ๐ Now expecting acquisition of signal confirming separation no earlier than 15:53 CEST. @ESA @JAXA_en @BepiColombo @ISAS_JAXA_EN
- Sep 3, 20261.9x their median
๐ข GO for MTM separation. The Mission Control Team has the green light to proceed with #BepiColombo's MTM separation. โ The spacecraft is configured, the team is ready, and the first milestone of #Mercury arrival is underway. ๐ฐ๏ธ @ESA @JAXA_en @BepiColombo @ISAS_JAXA_EN https://t.co/WbhKUvgCte
- Sep 3, 20261.6x their median
๐ถPreliminary #BepiColombo Doppler separation signal detected. Initial tracking data are consistent with the planned MTM separation sequence. Now awaiting acquisition of signal at 15:53 CEST for full confirmation. @ESA @JAXA @BepiColombo @ISAS_JAXA_EN #Mercury https://t.co/bmbJVdEafS
- Aug 5, 20261.5x their median
๐จ OPEN CALL: Run your code in deep space! For the first time, we are opening access to a living mission. Weโll be turning our Hera asteroid mission into a flying software lab 150M km from Earth. Open to AI, robotics, gaming, etc! ๐ป Submit your idea https://t.co/Sn54Xne6Oz https://t.co/Zo5mB3xZXn
- Aug 25, 2026
๐ฅ Our Draco reentry mission will record its own fiery demise. How? Well, the answer involves a heat shield made of cork, a meticulously shaped capsule, zapping plasma through wind tunnels and parachute drop tests. Learn all about the mission's design challenges ๐ https://t.co/PYqNkUmj3T
- Aug 24, 2026
The @esa /@JAXA_en #BepiColombo mission is entering its #Mercury arrival phase! ๐ผ๏ธ Learn more from the updated @esascience mission media kit: https://t.co/MWRnx9UM3g ๐บ And join the @BepiColombo online media briefing on 31 August 2026: https://t.co/7ILUJMBiUr https://t.co/P4NolxyL9f
- Sep 2, 2026
๐ฅ Check out the first image of Tangoโs reentry โ @esa's final Cluster spacecraft. But thatโs not all โ we caught Samba on video, too! ๐ https://t.co/96QDrF2T1x ๐ธ ESA/ROSIE/University of Stuttgart (HEFDiG) https://t.co/qbMQmdso5u
- Aug 31, 2026
๐ Samba has danced its final dance and reentered the atmosphere at 23:39:38 CEST. The final signal from the spacecraft via Kourou was lost for the last time 13 minutes earlier. But, good news: the airborne observation campaign has reported success - stay tuned! https://t.co/d29Gd61bXc
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.
Recurring topics
The most frequent hashtags in the sampled posts. They describe what this account writes about; they are not a performance signal, and the catalog-wide breakdown on the hub shows how little hashtag count moves.
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Reading these numbers
A typical post picks up 98 interactions against 334K followers, an engagement rate of 0.029%. Measured over 26 original posts, its engagement rate beats 43% of 6,874 tracked accounts of a similar size, which puts it in the middle of its size range rather than at either end. Posts are seen about 7.8K times each, and 1.26% of those impressions turn into an interaction. That is about 2.33% of the follower count, which is the gap between an audience on paper and an audience in a timeline. Posting runs at about 1.3 post a day over the last 30 days, with activity on roughly 57% of days. Most posts go out around 12:00 UTC, and Thursday is the busiest day of the week. Of the 26 posts sampled, 88% carry an image or video and 58% link out. The account's strongest tracked post pulled 860 interactions, about 8.8x its own typical post. Recurring topics include #bepicolombo, #mercury, #esa.
- What is ESA Operations's engagement rate on X?
- ESA Operations (@esaoperations) has an engagement rate of 0.029%, based on the median interactions across 26 original posts from the last 30 days against 334,073 followers. Replies, reposts and quote-posts of other people are excluded from that sample.
- Is that a good engagement rate?
- At 0.029%, ESA Operations sits above the 25th percentile of the 66,128 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 @esaoperations have real engagement?
- Its engagement rate beats 43% of the tracked X accounts closest to it in follower count (6,874 accounts), which puts it in the middle of its size range 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 @esaoperations post?
- Most posts go out around 12:00 UTC, and Thursday is its busiest day, at roughly 1.27 posts per day across the measured window.