We use this as SellwithWP (the Estimated Reading Times plugin) simply because we write lots of long form stuff mixed with shorter articles. Similar to what Norcross said, some people like to know if they can read now, or save it for later. You can view it on our most recent article right below post meta. We've tweaked it a bit to use its own line and to add a "Last Updated" notice (using either the post date or any update date after it). Here's what we did in `content-single.php` <?php post_read_time(); ?> | Last updated on <time datetime="<?php the_modified_time('Y-m-d'); ?>"><?php if ( strtotime( get_the_modified_time( 'Y-m-d' ) ) <strtotime( get_the_date() ) ) : echo get_the_date(); else : echo get_the_modified_time('F j, Y'); endif; ?>