Like many bloggers, I am also an ‘instagrammer’ – I joined back in August 2016, and since then have posted 381 times; primarily photos of landscapes and buildings. I typically post once or twice a week, and these days my photos attract an average of about 25 – 30 ‘likes’, so they don’t exactly go viral.
The number of likes have grown very steadily since the early days – initially i was getting single digits, but slowly it has increased. Likewise, the number of followers has grown, and until very recently it averaged around 155 – sometimes going up a few, then back down.
But on Saturday 30th March, something a little strange happened – I posted a new picture taken during my recent New York trip, and in a short time, my followers had grown from about 155 to 203 – and the number of likes that that picture received has been 63, more than double my average, whilst my previous high had been 47. Now I know these are still not big numbers by any means, but it has made me curious as to why this particular picture has generated a far better than normal response.
The picture:
It was taken with my iPhone X, in New York’s Penn Station, where I was on my way to meet my cousin. I’m always looking around for interesting shots, and I thought this view was really compelling, I loved that the flags added a touch of drama to the busy walkway, and how the tunnel seems to go on forever.
However, I have posted 2 pictures since this one, hoping to capitalise on my new found followers, but the number of likes have returned to my pre-Penn Station average, at 21 and 32. Today, the number of followers has also dropped, from the peak of 203, back to 183, so still quite a bit above where it was on Friday 29th, but it will be interesting to see whether it drops further in the coming days.
So, what was it about the Penn Station picture that caused a ‘spike’ in my followers and likes – was it the hashtags, the subject, or just ‘one of those things’? I guess I’ll never really know – oh, the joys of social media!