The era of the ‘selfie’ has dawned upon us. So much so that the word ‘selfie’ itself was Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year for 2013. Selfie is defined as “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.” Fire up Instagram and behold the massive amount of self-taken portraits – some good, many terrible. Regardless, a new study suggests that Instagram photos with faces are more likely to get likes and followers that those without.
According to a study by Georgia Tech University, people connect better with photos that feature a face (doggie selfies are good, I’m sure). Of 1.1 million Instagram photos analysed, the study found that faces were 38% more likely to get Likes and 32% more likely to get comments.
It’s all about face
Researcher Saeideh Bakhshi of Georgia Tech told Mashable, “We are naturally attracted to faces,” he continued, “We are social animals and want to see other people — it’s comforting to us and makes us safe. This is engrained in us at a very early age, when babies are looking for the support of their parents.”
An interesting finding was that the amount of faces in the photo, age or gender didn’t influence engagement levels – so male selfies were just as likely to get Likes and comments as female Instagram users. I digress though. I think females have it easier. Us men need to work harder. Boo.
Good selfies, bad selfies
I’m wondering if the quality of selfies or type of selfies influence engagement though. Duck face anyone? Also, there’s a disturbing trend of #sellotape selfies that’s circulating on Instagram. Yes, sellotape – it involves wrapping your head with tape, contorting yourself into a tortured bit of art (not).
The study did mention that while you get more Likes on selfies, posting too often results in a reduction of engagement.
So, less food, more selfies. Check.
By the way, if you haven’t, follow me on Instagram. I promise to post some selfies soon.
Image credit: Fashion Addicted Foodies, YourMarketingCo.com
