The secret of the popularity of animals on Instagram

The most famous photo on Instagram is That the egg, “More than 55 million people have liked it. But animals are also very popular with Internet users dog Pomeranian Embed a Tweet Thus 10.2 million subscribers, while chatting Embed a Tweet Turn her adventures into 4.3 million followers.

But if these animals attract attention through their expertly organized daily adventures, then what about wild animals? What makes an animal light in nature? This question preoccupied two researchers at the University of Constance in Germany, who looked at the condition of birds in a study published in review Psychology I am cognition.

Katia Tomis and co-worker Gregor Heine Leichenring examined 27,000 Bird pictures On nine accounts Instagram The total number of subscribers reached 3.5 million. They have developed an indicator called “Aesthetic Image Attractiveness” (IAA), which normalizes the absolute number of “likes”. ” The result is positive for the photos you receive more than “Such as” To be expected given the exposure of the image to netizens and negative otherwise Explains the study. Thus, the researchers classified 116 families of birds according to their IAA score.

The researchers note that the aesthetic appearance of the image has nothing to do with the traditional concept of aesthetics. exactly the contrary, ” There are no more animalsair Unique or unusual, the more people interest », Katia Tomis’ notes. The Instagram star is the bodarg, a bird Nocturnal Accommodated to owl. « The gunship is unlike anything else The bird It displays anthropomorphic characters in uppercase letters eyes on the face “The researcher explains in The New York Times.

« Anything pleasant and evocative of human nature, especially big eyes, is often shared. “, Confirms In the BBC Wildlife photographer Graeme Purdy, who recently won second place in the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards Which is followed by 60,600 people Instagram.

Admire the beautiful blue feathers

Other winners in this arrangement included the colorful pigeon with decorative or emerald feathers Toraku dressed in a sparkling blue dress and huppe In the crown.

In general, blue feathers look the most attractive, unlike yellow or red. A phenomenon that can be found in many other studies about landscapes, furniture or clothing, and which can be explained by an innate preference, particularly related to the fact that Blue « It is associated with pleasant things like a clear sky and clean water, while potentially harmful things like spoiled food are often yellow. », Mention the authors.

Seabirds, eagles and storks, which Instagram does not like

At the other end of a ghost, Including unwanted seabirds (oysters and sandbirds), It is often caught eating worms and seashells “, Beside the Eagles And the SigonesThe latter, however, is generally considered sympathetic. ” This arrangement demonstrates that the degree of attractiveness is not necessarily related to the beauty of the representative bird but rather to its behavior and situational context. », The authors testify. In other words, an ugly owl who makes a face will have every chance against A. flamingo brilliant.

A note that the wildlife photographer regrets Graeme Purdy : « On Instagram, people generally love adults Felines Elephants, but if you post what I think is an adorable ferret, it won’t be successful “Lamented On the BBC.

According to the site survey Real luxury travel, A safari travel site, and one of the most popular hashtags on Instagram, dog, cat, horse, and chicken (but with a bias because the photos also include chicken recipes). On the side of the wildebeest we find a brown or white bear (thank you for the lovable play!), Puma (Again with a bias due to the shoe brand), the Tiger, The Lion, Monkey, elephant, or Leopard.