Don’t you get frustrated when you post a picture which you think is really great but you end up having less likes than you expected? Or when you see someone who has more likes than you in a picture which doesn’t really seem great? Well that’s the case with most of the users on Instagram.
Most people think that to get a high amount of likes on their posts, they need to have a huge number of followers or they need to do something which would capture the attention of explorers. As this is what mostly happens on the app, The North Carolina State University came up with a research where they forgot about all these follower counts and catchy captions and instead examined the posts as to what things needed to be done in order for users to get attracted to the picture.
They took the matter into their own hands and started to research over this topic. They created an algorithm and then went on and scanned around 147,963 images available on Instagram. These pictures had to pass through 6 quality checks which were there to determine how these pictures were getting likes.
They went on and even released their findings in a paper which was named as “Simplicity is not the key; this is where you will understand how social media images increase consumer liking”. They said that there are 2 rules which summarize the whole concept of these findings. First is that you should always try to change and balance the color and light settings for your pictures. Second was that you should make sure that your picture is not pretty simple or extremely complex.
Here are the 6 visual qualities that were found to receive the most number of likes:
1. Color Complexity: The color quality depends on how much likes your picture is going to get. People don’t really go for pictures with high contrast or color, instead they like very simple images.
2. Luminance Entropy: Brightness plays a huge role in pictures. The brighter the picture is, chances are it will receive more likes.
3. Unique Objects Count: It is better to focus on lesser objects rather than to cramp up the picture with many different objects.
4. Edge Density: It points towards the vertices and edges of the pictures.
5. Irregularity of Objects: If the objects in your pictures are unique, chances are that you will get more likes if compared with a picture of scenery.
6. Asymmetry of Objects: The size and width of the picture should be spot on. Having a nice balance between these two can generate a good amount of likes.
Although the programmers at Instagram have done the hard part themselves. You only have to follow these few steps and you will see a 3% increase in your likes count.
Bill Rand, the executive director of the Institute's business analytics, said that they will also be releasing the code of the program to users so that they can further capitalize and make up a tool which they can use for their benefit.
Read next: Instagram Is Now Allowing Users To Create Remixes Using Any And All Videos Across The Platform, Not Just Reels
Most people think that to get a high amount of likes on their posts, they need to have a huge number of followers or they need to do something which would capture the attention of explorers. As this is what mostly happens on the app, The North Carolina State University came up with a research where they forgot about all these follower counts and catchy captions and instead examined the posts as to what things needed to be done in order for users to get attracted to the picture.
They took the matter into their own hands and started to research over this topic. They created an algorithm and then went on and scanned around 147,963 images available on Instagram. These pictures had to pass through 6 quality checks which were there to determine how these pictures were getting likes.
They went on and even released their findings in a paper which was named as “Simplicity is not the key; this is where you will understand how social media images increase consumer liking”. They said that there are 2 rules which summarize the whole concept of these findings. First is that you should always try to change and balance the color and light settings for your pictures. Second was that you should make sure that your picture is not pretty simple or extremely complex.
Here are the 6 visual qualities that were found to receive the most number of likes:
1. Color Complexity: The color quality depends on how much likes your picture is going to get. People don’t really go for pictures with high contrast or color, instead they like very simple images.
2. Luminance Entropy: Brightness plays a huge role in pictures. The brighter the picture is, chances are it will receive more likes.
3. Unique Objects Count: It is better to focus on lesser objects rather than to cramp up the picture with many different objects.
4. Edge Density: It points towards the vertices and edges of the pictures.
5. Irregularity of Objects: If the objects in your pictures are unique, chances are that you will get more likes if compared with a picture of scenery.
6. Asymmetry of Objects: The size and width of the picture should be spot on. Having a nice balance between these two can generate a good amount of likes.
Although the programmers at Instagram have done the hard part themselves. You only have to follow these few steps and you will see a 3% increase in your likes count.
Bill Rand, the executive director of the Institute's business analytics, said that they will also be releasing the code of the program to users so that they can further capitalize and make up a tool which they can use for their benefit.
Read next: Instagram Is Now Allowing Users To Create Remixes Using Any And All Videos Across The Platform, Not Just Reels
