Key image attributes to elicit likes and comments on Instagram

Abstract

This article spotlights the relationship between likes and com-ments and the content of tourism photographs on Instagramwith the aim of understanding users¿behavior and, thus, help-ing destination management organizations. Based on thestimulus-organism-response model, a content analysis wasconducted of 1,094 pictures that received 131,116,800 likesand 2,859,448 comments. By combining content analysis andregression analysis, the results show that Instagrammers¿responses are influenced differently by different picture attrib-utes, resulting in dissimilar behavior with regard to likes andcomments. Specifically, likes, as immediate reactions, tend tobe driven by content featuring people, views, or commonhabits. In contrast, comments, which require greater effort onthe part of the Instagrammer, are elicited by the topic of festi-vals or hotels, colors such as cream, green, orange, or yellow,images of water or animals, and images featuring tourist activ-ities, mostly at night. Multi-image or fake pictures negativelyimpact likes. By analyzing the content of the information pro-vided by the uploaded photographs, a typology of photo-graphic attributes is developed to offer clues for destinationmanagement organizations to enhance engagement withpotential customers and Instagram users.