Why are some pics more popular than others?

[voteforpedro]

I have been puzzled why a few of my pics get lots of hits and others relatively few.

Its nothing to do with the date that they are posted, and I certainly don think they are the best subject matter that I have posted up. Any ideas?

BIG HITS





LOUSY HITS





There is a similar pic from this area that I posted on the same day that has over 3 times the hits of this one. Bizarre.

[skida]

It is a puzzle how some shots get a lot of hits and some get visited rarely.

In areas where there are lots of photos it can help to make your title a bit more interesting. I am far more likely to open a photo called "Dirty Old Town" than one called "Sheep" or "Weeping Willow".

The "Fishing" shot looks very interesting in Thumbnail size and I guess that encourages more people to open it up.

[Panamon-Creel]

Google Search <---> keywords in title ;)

[Matthew Winn]

Quote Panamon_Creel:

Google Search <---> keywords in title

So if I change the titles of all my pictures to "sexy naked cheerleaders" I'll get millions of hits?

[hs238]

Quote Matthew Winn:

Quote Panamon_Creel:

Google Search <---> keywords in title

So if I change the titles of all my pictures to "sexy naked cheerleaders" I'll get millions of hits?

Ok now please advise me how to clean my monitor after you made me laugh with a mouth full of coffee.

[skida]

Quote Matthew Winn:

Quote Panamon_Creel:

Google Search <---> keywords in title

So if I change the titles of all my pictures to "sexy naked cheerleaders" I'll get millions of hits?

It would be an interesting experiment.

[Panamon-Creel]

Quote Matthew Winn:

So if I change the titles of all my pictures to "sexy naked cheerleaders" I'll get millions of hits?

In all likelyhood yes, but in addition you may get plenty of hateful comments from the kids you've mislead

[octaganoid]

Though it is nice to think people have bothered to look or even comment on my pics, i don't (for me anyway) really care if anyone does or not. I think of google earth as an information database to plan my travels abroad with, and though i think some of the photo work here is really brilliant i have never commented on it or added anything to faves as yet. I upload my photos so that maybe others who are planning to go to these places would get a sense of what was in store for them, its a bit like looking at a brochure i guess. And thats how i use google earth too. I dont think of google earth as a 'face book' kind of site i suppose.

Happy travels.

[Rafael (Retrocool)]

Quote voteforpedro:

I always wondered this myself... if you find out, let me know!

[davidcmc58]

I do not know the answers. In fact, I have more questions regarding this topic. The questions are:
1. What is considered a hit?
2. Which Google web sites are associated with these hits?
Panoramio? Google Earth? Google Map? Google Image
Search? All of the above? or even more sites?
:

[skida]

If someone clicks on the square dot on Google Earth it doesn't become a hit unless they subsequently click on the photo and open it in Panoramio. As far as I know the only other way to register a hit is if someone clicks on a thumbnail wherever it appears on Panoramio.

[Drema Swader]

Quote davidcmc58:

I have come to believe that some of my shots get more hits simply because they happen to be located in an area where people go to look at pictures.

The more pictures there are in that area, the less likely yours is to get a hit. Unless, of course, it's on the list of most popular pictures. But thumbnails of attractive pictures certainly attract hits, and catchy titles help. Many people simply run their cursor over the map and read the titles before clicking on the photos.

Of course, time is also a factor. I shudder when I look at how bad some of my early photographs are:

Early upload with a gazillion hits:


Recent upload with few hits:


And it has been my experience that any click on an icon in Panoramio maps, Google Earth, or Google Maps will register a hit. You do not have to click on the actual picture in Google Earth and go to the Panoramio site to register the hit.

Things that increase popularity are:
1) hits
2) comments on your pictures
3) others listing the photo as a favorite
4) resolution
5) other factors they won't reveal.

[Laserion]

Perhaps I should take a pic of a local mountain, map it and call it "Sexy Cheerleaders Mountain" as an experiment.

[Philippe Meisburger]

About Sexy cheerleaders,

Can someone explain me why my picture :



attracts less visitors than the one of a girl I worked with :



???

(Just joking by, I know the answer to this question : Hormones !)

[KosmosBlue]

Quote octaganoid:

Though it is nice to think people have bothered to look or even comment on my pics, i don't (for me anyway) really care if anyone does or not. I think of google earth as an information database to plan my travels abroad with, and though i think some of the photo work here is really brilliant i have never commented on it or added anything to faves as yet. I upload my photos so that maybe others who are planning to go to these places would get a sense of what was in store for them, its a bit like looking at a brochure i guess. And thats how i use google earth too. I dont think of google earth as a 'face book' kind of site i suppose.

Happy travels.

I totaly agree. Thats why, on Google Earth, pictures representative of the area is much better than great photographs of sunsets etc. When traveling the world by google earth, pictures on ground level that gives you the most correct impression of what it is like at the spot are priceless. Google Earths first priority for me is to be informative and not a place to "show off" great photographs that doesn't really give a good idea of what the place is like. That said, great photographs that covers the infomative part is the best

[garretveley]

Try this: Search your panoramio screen name - the one used on the copyright statement. In my case it led to travel sites linking to some of my panoramio photos-- the ones with higher hit counts. So... fair warning that your shots are being harvested, if that bothers you. (I think it gets mentioned in the terms of use, remember when you read through those?)

[tbenedict]

The subject of this thread has broadened a little, but I'll try to reply both to the original poster's question, as well as comment on some of the later stuff as well.

As far as what makes a shot popular, I think it's a combination of the tags, as Panamon Creel pointed out, and the audience to which the shot and the tags applies. The Cheerleader tags are a great example, actually. If you do the experiment with the Cheerleader Mountain, my guess is it won't get a disproportionate number of hits. You have a big audience, but it's a popular tag and there are millions of pictures that use it. So your competition is tough, so to speak.

I haven't run into this here, but it's fun to watch what pictures get hits on my Flickr photostream. It's typically not the pictures I like, or even the ones other people like. It's the ones that fill a unique, often geeky niche. My most popular picture? One from a sequence demonstrating a digital noise reduction technique. Next most popular? A picture of a camera I built. I don't even start to hit "real" pictures until I'm pretty far down the list.

The lesson to draw from all this isn't that those are better pictures. But of the people typing in search terms in Google, those are the ones that fill some niche with almost no pictures and enough people running searches.

(The REAL lesson to draw from all this is that the number of clicks a picture gets isn't a metric for how good it is.)


As for how pictures on Google Earth are used, I agree with the idea of having a representative picture of a place, but it also helps to have the "postcard shot" as well.

Any time I'm doing photography in a new location, say a national park, the first thing I do is stop at the visitor's center and look at the postcards and the posters. It's a quick overview of what kinds of flora, fauna, and landscape the place can offer. It's also a quick overview of what's already been done, so that gets the gears turning for how to make photograph that's different.

This is where Google Earth can come in handy, especially if there is a healthy mix of representative shots and postcard shots. You get an idea of what the place looks like, and you get an idea of what can be done with it if you're a meticulous photographer and know your subject well. Both pieces of information are useful.

Tom

[JohnyTopaz]

I agree w octaganoid, kosmosblue and tbenedict. The reason I even joined panoramio was so that i could post photos to area that i had visited that didn't necessarily have any photo support (so others could see them when looking into an area) and because i was also using googlearth as a "search an area" tool and pre-visit tool. As was said - that's one of the uses for googlearth.
For some, though, it is a comfort to see one of their pics become 'popular' - but good statement tbenedict: number of hits doesn't necessarily mean the pic is good - just that its loc'n on googlearth was right or that some other 'factor' lead certain individuals to look at it.

[Bruce da Moose]

Quote garretveley:

Try this: Search your panoramio screen name - the one used on the copyright statement. In my case it led to travel sites linking to some of my panoramio photos-- the ones with higher hit counts. So... fair warning that your shots are being harvested, if that bothers you. (I think it gets mentioned in the terms of use, remember when you read through those?)

Please, where does one find the copyright statement?

[Galatas ©]

Quote Bruce da Moose:

Please, where does one find the copyright statement?

Open any photo , and on the right , below the map , along with photo details you'll see copyright information.

Terms of Service http://www.panoramio.com/terms/ including API agreement.

[Wallaseyan]

Quote skida:

If someone clicks on the square dot on Google Earth it doesn't become a hit unless they subsequently click on the photo and open it in Panoramio. As far as I know the only other way to register a hit is if someone clicks on a thumbnail wherever it appears on Panoramio.

You get a second hit if they then open the full-sized image.

[Wallaseyan]

Quote Panamon_Creel:

Google Search <---> keywords in title

I was interested to see if this is the case, so I have changed the title on two photos to be identical in order to see if this is a key factor.

However, given that they current have hit counts in the ratio of 626:1 in favour of the image taken in bright sunlight, I am going to assume for now that it is because someone has linked to the photo page from their own site to help customers find their premises.

[Ito Figueira Neto.]

Quote octaganoid:

Though it is nice to think people have bothered to look or even comment on my pics, i don't (for me anyway) really care if anyone does or not. I think of google earth as an information database to plan my travels abroad with, and though i think some of the photo work here is really brilliant i have never commented on it or added anything to faves as yet. I upload my photos so that maybe others who are planning to go to these places would get a sense of what was in store for them, its a bit like looking at a brochure i guess. And thats how i use google earth too. I dont think of google earth as a 'face book' kind of site i suppose.

Happy travels.

I couldn't agree most!!! I don't think this is useful to make a pic popular or not, it doesn't matter at all, it's a matter to give other people a closer look of places they're curious or about to go on a travel and if I can help on it I'll happily do it, I started recently with pics of a Skate Park in front of my house but I not inteded to close works so soon!!!!

[brabason]

Hit on Panoramio and hits on Google Earth now shown as two separate figures on the Panoramio thumbnail screen. How it works, I don't know and could not be bothered to find out.

[__Amanda__]

I really think that the success of a photography depends on the various tastes of the visitors,too. For example,some of them prefer the pictures that have a nostalgic tent,while others prefer the more abstract ones...Some of them prefer the full of colour ones,and the others,the black and white pictures... So,you see,there is not a rule that you should follow. Of course,as Drema Swader said,it is important for the picture to have a good resolution,and so on...But i think you should follow your own rules and develop your own style. Unfortunately,you just can`t please everyone. Best wishes!

[Daniel Bielecki]

Judging by my observation that if a Panoramio member has lots of contacts as favourite photographers, especially as mutual contacts, you are most likely to attract high views. Firstly your contact will recieve an e-mail notification if you have it enabled. Secondly your pics. will get more expossure and more chance that other people will stumble across them. Thirdly it may help to comment on someones page or photo that has some comments on it and check for any replies / comments from the author. Lastly There's no guarantee that you'll get a reply. Some people are just not bothered at all or have little time-(that i understand). A lot of it is down to luck? A bit of a hit and miss situation, no matter how good your pics. are?

[ewarwoowar]

I have noticed with some recent pictures that there is a short peak of views (18 on one day for example) presumably when it first goes onto Google Earth and then it settles down to just a few. I wonder what causes that?

[D. Alexandru Ioan]

Couple of months ago, Gerard, the community manager, announced that some of the new pictures will appear at a higher lvl. for a certain amount of time, just to gain more visibility and views.

[AustinMN]

Quote ewarwoowar:

I have noticed with some recent pictures that there is a short peak of views (18 on one day for example) presumably when it first goes onto Google Earth and then it settles down to just a few. I wonder what causes that?

There are a variety of things that can cause this.
* If several users have favorited your gallery, they get an email when you upload new photos.
* Random visitors will usually only look at the first page or two of your photos, and so as it moves off the first page (and more when it moves off the second), the views may become less frequent.
* The "surfacing" that D. Alexandru Ioan mentioned in the post just before mine. The way it works is that random new photos are selected to appear at the highest levels on Google Earth for a few hours, potentially generating many views in a short time (and increasing the variety of photos at the highest levels on GE).
* News events. There have been many examples of photos where a world news story breaks, suddenly having views 50-100 times what it had been, with the views tapering off as the story fades away. It is unclear whether this happens in a smaller way on smaller stories, but it is certainly a possibility.

Despite this, there have been spikes that nobody could explain. It is possible that a photo gets into an API slideshow on someones's page, and a viewer leaves that page open for a day, or someone includes a link to a photo in a glurge-type email (think of those "SEND THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!" emails), or a handful of other possibilities.

In the end, views and popularity are things you have to simply allow to happen, and enjoy them when you get lucky.

Austin

[ewarwoowar]

Thanks AustinMN & D. Alexandru Ioan

As this is happening only to Google Earth views (not in Panoramio or API) I think the D. Alexandru Ioan reason is the most likely - my curiosity has been satisfied!

[jonathan.nyc]

Based on my own photos, location seems to be the key factor in getting views.

Pictures taken in Central Park get a lot of traffic overall, but the area is over saturated with panoramio photos, so the competition makes it hard for individual photos to get many views. One of my own favorites has gotten very little traffic there.

All my photos from Governor's Island have gotten a good amount of views. It's an interesting destination without so many photos. I took my most popular photo there, and it's one of my least favorite.

An area of Fire Island has very few panoramio photos posted, so the pictures I've taken there have gotten good traffic. Actually, I've had a near monopoly in four scenic towns.

On the other hand I took some photos in a generally uninteresting place with no competition, and have gotten very little traffic.

My advice is, take good pictures and post the links wherever you can, but the key factor to popularity is location.

[RoarX]

I agree that location is the most important factor to get views in both panoramio and GE/GM. In Panoramio, the first page is the best location. In GE/GM, A popular place like a well known urban area or landmark, is the best. Having some distance to other photos, not being covered by others is the best. I got photos I like very well that get almost no views, because they are located in a unpopular spot. I also got really dull and boring photos that are popular because of It's location. Also, having a lot of mutual contacts and other followers, while uploading small bulks of photos helps to boost the photo view-counts. Unless you are in the spammer club, having good photos and many followers is a good thing. To some extend, quality pays off, but mostly in the short run. Unless you put quality photos in a popular spot, having your followers boosting the photos popularity so it gets high altitude in GE. That's my opinion...

[Clyde Robinson, Jr.]

If the only reason that I posted photos was to become popular...I'd never post any...don't worry about it and keep posting

[EnochHenderson]

Having watched my hit-count in Pano since before the days of Google ownership, I would say location relative to the competition of other photos is the way the hits rise usually. I have seen some of my photos rake in high hit-counts simply because Pano offers few other options for the area. I dont even bother snapping photos for Pano in high concentration areas, cuz I don't want to clutter an area further. In the urban environment where competition is more intense, Ive seen the most interesting photos used in realty & tourism websites which boosts traffic/hits.

[davidcmc58]

Quote:

Why are some pics more popular than others?

In my humble opinion, it depends on your personal definition of what popularity is. Using Panoramio's popularity definition, the best way to gain popularity is to visit others' galleries and give lots of YS & likes and hopefully get some in return. A totally unfair system if you ask me. Since I have voiced my objections to this system in so many forum threads in the past, I would not get into the details here. On the other hand, many members believe that popularity is defined simply by number of views. The highest views do belong to the most popular (thank God it's the real world widget API popularity, not the phony Panoramio popularity!) photos of high traffic places. I totally agree with EnochHenderson's statement - "In the urban environment where competition is more intense, Ive seen the most interesting photos used in realty & tourism websites which boosts traffic/hits." Of course, the most popular photos at such areas need to be at least somewhat better than average in terms of quality. It's tough for low quality photos to be very popular no matter how hard they have been promoted.

[Kalev Vask]

One my shot have title:  "Pétrusse Valley, Luxembourg". Google image search and some tourist oriented web pages find this photo.

But only pages in french. When I try search Google: Petrusse Valley, Google not find this photo. 

Is renaming my photo to  "Pétrusse (Petrusse) Valley, Luxembourg" bad idea? I think - is.

Or add english name to description or to tag(s).

I have some photos shooted in Germany and allmost in Estonia. I don't know which language i should use in titles.

P.S. Sorry for my English

[Lady GooGoo la la]

Most users select photos based on a thumbnail or icon.

A significant factor in photo popularity is how the photo looks as a thumbnail, some busy photos may look great when seen full screen, lots of clear detail, but looking nothing as a low rez thumbnail. 

Pictures with bold colours or nice colour combination and distinct outlines have an advantage.

Look at a page of thumbnails for 1 second, with ones catch your eye, these will be the most popular.

Photos with something of interest in both the foreground and background look more 3D and interesting than flat distant scenery with minute detail.