Pricing
A search on one network costs 2 tokens, a written reply 3; asking the Outpost is free. Top-ups from $25 never expire. Billed per venture, cancel any time.
See the full pricingThe playbook
Replies are the growth engine. Here is the lane for each network.
On every network in 2026 the reply, not the post, is what reaches people: X weighs a reply the author answers 150 times a like, LinkedIn decides most of a post's reach in its first 90 minutes, Reddit and YouTube hand the top slot to whoever is there in the first 15. The catch is that new accounts which promote on day one get flagged. So every Outposts account runs on a lane: reply-first, no links until the account has earned them, more room as it warms. These are the lanes. Every account follows its network's by default and you can change any number on the account page.
X
A reply the author answers is weighted 75 against 0.5 for a like, in X's own open-sourced ranker. One good reply on a big post reaches thousands; an original post from a new account reaches hundreds.
| Phase | From day | Replies a day | Posts a day | Gap | Links | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | 0 | 10 to 20 | none | 15 min | no links yet | no |
| Warming | 14 | 15 to 30 | 1 to 2 | 12 min | no links yet | no |
| Established | 28 | 20 to 40 | 2 to 3 | 10 min | links sparingly | with disclosure |
| Trusted | 90 | 20 to 50 | 2 to 3 | 8 min | links sparingly | with disclosure |
Replies that earn a reply back
- Add a data point the author left out.
- Ask a genuine question you actually want answered; an author reply is the strongest signal there is.
- Disagree politely, with a reason.
- "I tried X, here is what happened."
- One concrete step the author's readers can use.
Length: one to three sentences with a real point; two-word replies do not register.
Never
- "Great post" replies
- more than one hashtag
- a link in the post body
- threads already buried under hundreds of replies
- obvious AI phrasing
Links: A link in the post cuts reach 30 to 50 percent, near zero without Premium. Put it in the first reply under your own post or in the bio.
Best windows: Tue to Thu, 9am to 11am and 12pm to 6pm. Reply within 15 minutes of a thread to compete for the top slot.
Only the official, pay-per-use API may automate, and accounts that engage with each other are suspended together. The desk drafts; you post from your own account.
About 70 percent of a post's reach is decided in its first 90 minutes. A thoughtful comment inside that window feeds the post's depth score and puts your profile in front of its audience.
| Phase | From day | Replies a day | Posts a day | Gap | Links | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | 0 | 5 to 15 | none | 30 min | no links yet | no |
| Warming | 14 | 10 to 20 | 0 to 1 | 25 min | no links yet | no |
| Established | 30 | 10 to 20 | 0 to 1 | 20 min | links in profile or articles only | with disclosure |
| Trusted | 90 | 10 to 20 | 1 to 1 | 20 min | links sparingly | with disclosure |
Replies that earn a reply back
- Expand the point with a nuance or an exception the post missed.
- A case with numbers: "in our deployment of X we saw Y."
- Professional disagreement, with reasoning.
- A framework for thinking about the topic.
Length: two or three sentences with one real point; a paragraph reads as a pitch.
Never
- "Great post!"
- tagging people to farm reach
- polls
- a link in the body
- the first-comment link trick, which is now detected
Links: A link in the body cuts reach by roughly 60 percent, and the first-comment workaround is detected as of 2026. Put links in Featured, an article or a newsletter, or offer to DM.
Best windows: Tue to Thu, 8am to 11am and 12pm to 6pm. Reply within 90 minutes of a thread to compete for the top slot.
There is no compliant self-serve API, and browser automation gets accounts suspended on the first violation. Everything here is you, in the LinkedIn app.
A comment in the first 15 minutes of a thread has a real shot at the top slot; after an hour it is near zero. Comments count toward the nine helpful actions that earn one promotional one.
| Phase | From day | Replies a day | Posts a day | Gap | Links | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | 0 | 5 to 10 | none | 15 min | no links yet | no |
| Warming | 3 | 10 to 20 | 0 to 1 | 12 min | no links yet | no |
| Established· 150 karma | 30 | 15 to 30 | 1 to 1 | 10 min | links sparingly | with disclosure |
| Trusted· 200 karma | 60 | 20 to 40 | 1 to 2 | 10 min | links sparingly | with disclosure |
Replies that earn a reply back
- Answer the question as the practitioner you are, no pitch.
- A detailed personal experience with specifics.
- A correction or an added nuance, with a source.
- Name the tool with no link, only when someone asks.
Length: two or three sentences, matched to the subreddit; 40 characters is the floor.
Never
- any link during warm-up
- generic praise
- the same comment in two subreddits
- URL shorteners and tracking parameters
- deleting old posts to fix the ratio
Links: No links during warm-up. Non-self links after about 10 days and 150 comment karma; your own from month two with 200 karma, one action in five at most. Mega subreddits auto-remove links from accounts under 90 days.
Best windows: weekdays, 9am to 12pm. Reply within 15 minutes of a thread to compete for the top slot.
The most anti-marketing network here, and its API is closed to marketing. The desk finds and drafts; you post, spaced out, from your own account.
Bluesky
The Following feed is chronological, so a reply to someone with engaged followers lands straight in their timelines, and there is no link penalty at all.
| Phase | From day | Replies a day | Posts a day | Gap | Links | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | 0 | 10 to 30 | 1 to 3 | 10 min | links when they answer | no |
| Warming | 3 | 15 to 30 | 2 to 4 | 8 min | links when they answer | no |
| Established | 14 | 20 to 40 | 3 to 5 | 6 min | links allowed | with disclosure |
| Trusted | 45 | 20 to 50 | 3 to 5 | 5 min | links allowed | with disclosure |
Replies that earn a reply back
- A genuine question that invites discussion.
- A niche insight added to the conversation.
- A personal take with some personality.
- A quote-repost with commentary.
Length: conversational, one thought, a real question or an add-on; 300 characters.
Never
- identical replies at scale
- replying to strangers by the dozen
- following everyone
Links: No link deboost on Bluesky. Keep links contextual so a new account does not read as a bot.
Best windows: weekdays, 9am to 12pm and 5pm to 9pm. Reply within 30 minutes of a thread to compete for the top slot.
Automation is allowed and labelled here, but you still post yourself so every account reads as the person it is.
Threads
Replies are the strongest ranking signal, weighted by length: eight words count, two do not. The first 30 minutes of a post decide how far it travels.
| Phase | From day | Replies a day | Posts a day | Gap | Links | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | 0 | 20 to 40 | 1 to 2 | 8 min | no links yet | no |
| Warming | 14 | 20 to 40 | 1 to 3 | 8 min | links when they answer | no |
| Established | 30 | 20 to 50 | 1 to 3 | 6 min | links when they answer | with disclosure |
| Trusted | 90 | 20 to 50 | 1 to 3 | 6 min | links when they answer | with disclosure |
Replies that earn a reply back
- An open question that extends the conversation.
- A specific add-on or a personal experience.
- A light contrarian take, with a reason.
- A tactical tip.
Length: eight words or more; a substantive sentence or two.
Never
- replies under eight words
- "Great post!"
- hashtag stuffing
- posting then vanishing
Links: Contested: Meta says links do better than they did; some still measure suppression. Add context to every link and keep them rare in the first weeks.
Best windows: weekdays, 8am to 11am and 12pm to 2pm and 7pm to 10pm. Reply within 30 minutes of a thread to compete for the top slot.
Meta's API needs app review; the desk drafts, you post from the Threads app.
YouTube
A top comment on a big video reaches tens of thousands of people; early comments earn three to ten times the engagement of late ones. The channel identity is the asset.
| Phase | From day | Replies a day | Posts a day | Gap | Links | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | 0 | 5 to 15 | none | 20 min | no links, ever | no |
| Warming | 14 | 10 to 20 | none | 15 min | no links, ever | no |
| Established | 30 | 10 to 30 | none | 12 min | no links, ever | with disclosure |
| Trusted | 90 | 10 to 30 | none | 12 min | no links, ever | with disclosure |
Replies that earn a reply back
- Timestamp plus insight: "At 7:40 you nailed X, and the reason is Y."
- A named resource, no link.
- A genuine question to the creator.
- "I applied this and got X."
- A how-to that extends the video's point.
Length: one to three sentences with one specific point, ideally anchored to a timestamp.
Never
- any link
- near-identical comments across videos
- one-line praise
- feeding trolls
Links: Links in comments are held or removed, especially from new accounts. The channel's About page and banner carry the venture.
Best windows: weekdays, 12pm to 10pm. Reply within 60 minutes of a thread to compete for the top slot.
Third-party commenting through the API is not a supported use. You comment from your channel.
Hacker News
Karma is the only reputation and it is slow. A precise, technical comment from someone who has built the thing is the only kind that travels.
| Phase | From day | Replies a day | Posts a day | Gap | Links | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | 0 | 2 to 5 | none | 60 min | no links yet | no |
| Warming | 7 | 3 to 6 | none | 45 min | no links yet | no |
| Established | 30 | 3 to 8 | 0 to 1 | 30 min | links sparingly | with disclosure |
| Trusted | 90 | 3 to 8 | 0 to 1 | 30 min | links sparingly | with disclosure |
Replies that earn a reply back
- Correct or extend a technical point with specifics.
- Share what you learned building it.
- Ask a precise question.
Length: two or three sentences with the one detail that matters.
Never
- marketing language
- links in early comments
- asking for upvotes
Links: Links only when a comment asks for one. A Show HN is the place for your own.
Best windows: weekdays, 8am to 12pm. Reply within 30 minutes of a thread to compete for the top slot.
No API for posting. You comment yourself.
The comments under a reel or a post in your niche are read by the people who just watched it, and a specific comment from a real account in the space earns profile visits; the profile carries the link. Instagram's spam filters hide generic comments from new accounts within days.
| Phase | From day | Replies a day | Posts a day | Gap | Links | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | 0 | 3 to 8 | none | 20 min | no links, ever | no |
| Warming | 14 | 5 to 12 | none | 15 min | no links, ever | no |
| Established | 30 | 8 to 15 | none | 12 min | no links, ever | with disclosure |
| Trusted | 90 | 8 to 15 | none | 12 min | no links, ever | with disclosure |
Replies that earn a reply back
- A specific reaction to the clip or the picture: "the part at the end where X is the whole game."
- A genuine question to the creator.
- "Tried this last month and X happened."
- A named resource, no link.
- An answer to another commenter's question.
Length: one or two sentences, one specific point about what the post shows.
Never
- any link
- hashtags in comments
- emoji-only comments
- the same comment under two posts
- commenting on a post that is not about your topic
Links: Links in comments are not clickable and read as spam; the bio link is the only link on Instagram.
Best windows: weekdays, 11am to 2pm and 6pm to 10pm. Reply within 120 minutes of a thread to compete for the top slot.
Instagram allows no third-party commenting outside a reviewed business app. You comment from your account.
TikTok
A comment under a video in your niche is read by everyone who watches it after you, and a comment the creator likes or answers is pinned near the top for the life of the video. 150 characters is the whole budget, so every comment is one specific line.
| Phase | From day | Replies a day | Posts a day | Gap | Links | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New | 0 | 3 to 8 | none | 20 min | no links, ever | no |
| Warming | 14 | 5 to 12 | none | 15 min | no links, ever | no |
| Established | 30 | 8 to 15 | none | 12 min | no links, ever | with disclosure |
| Trusted | 90 | 8 to 15 | none | 12 min | no links, ever | with disclosure |
Replies that earn a reply back
- One specific reaction to a moment in the video.
- A one-line answer to the question the video asks.
- "did this, X happened" in one line.
- A question the creator will want to answer.
Length: one short sentence, under 150 characters, specific to the video.
Never
- any link
- hashtags
- more than one sentence
- a pitch of any kind
- the same comment under two videos
Links: Links in comments are plain text on TikTok and read as spam; the bio link is the only link.
Best windows: weekdays, 12pm to 3pm and 7pm to 11pm. Reply within 120 minutes of a thread to compete for the top slot.
TikTok allows no third-party commenting. You comment from your account.
Built in, and yours to change
Every account you add follows its network's lane from the first day: the daily numbers, the gap between actions, when links and mentions open. The account page draws the warming as it happens, says what to do next, and lets you change any number for that one account. What you do not touch keeps following the playbook, so an improvement here reaches you.