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Ok so I am having a small issue really small tiny issue and that is storing status posts and what timezone they should be stored in. I know it is something in the background and MongoDB currently is storying the post in the database in Zulu time which is fine, lets face it to convert +10 or -10 is easy from any timezone, but I am wondering what does Facebook and Twitter store the status post or tweets in when it comes to there database are they also using Zulu or something more local.

I ask this because our servers are based in USA and our office is in Melbourne Australia - so when it comes to checking everything on the PHP side is working fine, we check error logs in Melbourne/Australia time as the server is set up for +10GMT but it seems the MongoDB is running on Zulu time zone which is +00 -00.

It is also noted that many of the Army, Navy and defence units around the world use Zulu time - according to Google

I also found this link http://www.navy.mil/navydata/questions/zulutime.html

Which states:

Unfortunately the Earth does not rotate at exactly a constant rate. Due to various scientific reasons and increased accuracy in measuring the earth's rotation, a new timescale, called Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), has been adopted and replaces the term GMT.

any advice would be welcomed.

RussellHarrower
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    I feel you have answered your own question. UTC is pretty much a standard for any respectable application. – Neil Lunn Jul 08 '14 at 11:53
  • @NeilLunn and would that be stay with Zulu time and convert if needed – RussellHarrower Jul 08 '14 at 11:56
  • MongoDB **only** stores dates in UTC. That is actually best practice. Always **convert** as your application needs. There are certainly duplicate questions to this. – Neil Lunn Jul 08 '14 at 11:58
  • Voting to close as "too broad", since we know nothing about the requirements of your site. There are many different issues to consider. You will find most of what you need to know in the ["best practices" post](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2532729/daylight-saving-time-and-time-zone-best-practices), and in the [timezone tag wiki](http://stackoverflow.com/tags/timezone/info). – Matt Johnson-Pint Jul 08 '14 at 15:40
  • I don't believe that this is a duplicate question or a question that should be closed - Due to the following parts of the question: 1) what does Facebook and Twitter store the status post or tweets in when it comes to there database are they also using Zulu or something more local. 2) MongoDB currently is storying the post in the database in Zulu time - is this time zone "Zulu" be the default timezone for status post – RussellHarrower Jul 09 '14 at 11:38

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