Likely to be liked? A study of Facebook images

This paper investigates how aesthetic properties of images posted on Facebook are related to the number of Likes they attract. Aesthetic properties are conceptualized in terms of technical perspectives such as brightness, colorfulness and clarity as well as non-technical perspectives such as artistry, liveliness and ingenuity. The images collected for this paper were coded in terms of the aesthetic properties by two coders. Data analysis was done using Tobit hierarchical regression. Brightness, clarity, liveliness and ingenuity of images turned out to be positively associated with the number of Likes. The significance of the findings is discussed.