Social Media Popularity Graphs

This Infographic Provides a Scientific Breakdown of Instagram Stats

In this infographic, social media scientist Dan Zarrella breaks down Instagram stats to figure out exactly how a photo can generate the most Instagram likes.

Zarrella arrives at a handful of cold, hard conclusions about Instagram stats. Photos with faces get more likes -- so selfie enthusiasts are in luck. Surprisingly, no filter is the best filter. Photos that don't utilize an Instagram filter from the range of options provided by the social media platform outperform all other photos. Brighter photos get more likes, as do cooler colors, lower saturation, and busier scenes.

The Instagram infographic is part of a campaign to launch Zarrella's new site PicStats.com, which allows users to enter their own Instagram account information and discover Instagram stats on their own posts. For example, a user's Instagram stats might tell them that they get the most likes when they post pictures of cats and use the Valencia filter.

Instagram Like Optimization
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Data-driven Social Media Marketing
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Personalized Social Media Insights
Providing individualized Instagram stats to improve personal social media strategy.

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Social Media Marketing
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SCORE
0.8 out of 10
GENDER
30% Men70% Women
MARKETTop markets: North America, Europe, Asia
GENERATION
  • Gen Alpha
  • Gen X
  • Gen Z (primary audience)
  • Millennial (primary audience)
POPULARITY
Popularity 9%
Activity 6%
Freshness 8%