Posted by Gary Yeoh on February 8, 2011 at 7:49 PM
I wonder if anyone take any notice of view count in their posts and if so what does it mean? The count varies considerably; much higher in the very popular landscape gallery and much less in Macro and Photoart galleries. So with such wide variation between galleries, does view count actually mean anything?
Personally I use view count as a guide. Sometimes I am really surprised by the count; some pictures which I personally like a lot, hardly gets a look-in and others get much higher count than I expected. I suppose it is a sort of a reality check in the former. I sometimes get carried away or get attached to certain images and perhaps exaggerate their worth.
Does high count means higher appeal factor? I don't sell images but for those who sells their images, does high count translate to higher sales?
I do use the count to decide whether to keep an image on my gallery for longer than the usual retention period. As the number of images in my gallery grows, I would probably have to up the threshold to fit new ones in. I have not done that yet but when I do, it is perhaps an 'objective' measure that the appeal factor in my photos has improved??
Posted by Mark Windom on February 8, 2011 at 8:19 PM
I don't pay alot of attention to view count, some but not alot. And, I haven't seen any connection between that and sales....but then, lately, there haven't been many sales anyway on anything.
I tend to pay more attention to the ratio of view count to comments. 100 views and 1 comment says one thing about the image and 100 views and 50 comments says something else entirely.
I also think the thumbnail can have something to do with lower view counts. Often the viewer can get all the info they need just from the thumbnail and unless they are interested in posting a comment they won't proceed to register a count.
I post images for critique primarily to see if the viewer sees something "wrong" with the image that I may have missed whether in processing or some technical aspect of using the camera.
I notice it but, like you, don't always know quite what to make of it. It's obviously some combination of name recognition and thumbnail appeal, and of course (as you point out) the posting gallery. I generally do not consider it much of an indicator of the quality of a shot.
On the other hand, in evaluating viewer response I do sometimes consider the ratio of views to comments . . . my sense is that if I have a lot of views and very few comments on a particular shot, then the image either has some problems that people don't want to take the time to address or is simply unappealing. To me, that ratio can be a meaningful indicator of the "unspoken" sentiments of viewers . . . much more so than the number of views itself.
This is an interesting topic and I'm glad you posted it!
[EDIT] Just saw Mark's comment after I posted. Looks like we have some pretty similar thoughts.
Good topic!
To me, there are so many variables involved in the number of "views", view count really means very little to me.
For instance, since I'm on the west coast and don't have much time during the day, I often post late at night (which is 2-3 hrs later still for the rest of the US) and the image is half-buried by the morning. THis likely affects the view count. So does [posting on a weekend vs a weekday.
I'm always happy to see that some people were interested enough in one of my thumbnails to open the picture, but even that is odd, because some really excellent images from others just don't appesar very interesting in thumbnails.
Sandy
Posted by Luis Argerich on February 8, 2011 at 9:48 PM
Maybe the views are a metric about thumbnail quality and the comments about the image quality?
Who knows...
Luis - that's how I've always looked at it. If find the ratio of comments to the number of views to be more indicative of 'image quality' than either number alone. This falls apart at higher comment counts as people will start to revisit the images to read other people's comments. But in the end, I don't believe this number has anything to do with the saleability of an image, or even its appeal to the world at large.
Posted by Gary Yeoh on February 8, 2011 at 10:07 PM
I believe the view count is for unique IP address. Re-visits from the same IP address are still counted as 1 visit. May be Jim can verify this.
Gary - I thought so too, but a quick experiment proved me wrong.. you can rack up lots of views on one computer (at least, you can on all 3 of the computers in front of me right now).
Posted by Lorna Taylor on February 8, 2011 at 10:19 PM
I don't pay much attention to view counts other than people stopped long enough to view my image and that works for me ! Some of my lowest commented images on other sites are my most popular for views! I spend a lot of time viewing others work but don't always comment . It is not about image quality but more so that the image caught my attention long enough to take a look at it.There are many truly beautiful images out there but the ones I comment on are peoples work I know or images that have unique character.So I tend to look at view counts the same way I view others work, That the image stood out or wanted to see what others were saying about it. I look at hundreds of images a day , but I don't always have time to leave a comment on most of them ! Cheers
I am not concerned about the number of views, or necessarily the number of comments I receive. What I do care about is the quality of the comments that I receive, and the quality of the comments I provide to others.
--P
Posted by Pam Colander on February 9, 2011 at 1:00 AM
My thoughts are in line with Luis' comment. My images invariably get quite a few views and not many comments (with a few exceptions). My feelings about this are I am glad that it got a lot of views, but am disappointed it didn't receive the feedback I need in order to improve. The disappointment factor increases if a moderator doesn't comment, which is rare but does happen.
Posted by Carol Hyman on February 9, 2011 at 10:23 AM
Folks, I think we have to remember that our images are viewed by the general public as well as NPN members. One element that folks have not mentioned is the the title. If someone has a unique title that too many increase the number of views.
When I'm commenting on images before posting an image, I don't look at the thumbnails or the titles but that comment is an aside.
Again, IMO, even the ratio of views to comments is irrelevant since the general public cannot comment.
My 2-cents.
Carol
I am not concerned about the number of views, or necessarily the number of comments I receive. What I do care about is the quality of the comments that I receive, and the quality of the comments I provide to others.
Amen.
It certainly depends on your motives for posting, but I'll take a single meaty comment over 1,000 views.
Posted by Larry Reitz on February 9, 2011 at 11:37 AM
does high count translate to higher sales?
Gary,
I think the answer to this is most likely no for views on NPN. It has been said often in the photo marketing forum that other photographers are not your best target market. Depending on your sales venue (mine is the outdoor art fair) hits on a web site (at least on mine) do seem to show some correlation with popularity and therefore sales.
Hope my reply was not too far off subject. As for the rest of your questions I think the other who commented have covered it well.
Posted by Ron Pederson on February 9, 2011 at 2:34 PM
Good topic, Gary. I’ve seen references from time to time about the relative success or popularity of a gallery based on high viewer counts…but I’m not entirely convinced that it matters very much. Several of the comments already posted here sum up my experience well. I’ve only sold 2 of my images ever (I’m not trying to market them)…both were posted on NPN and didn’t receive very many views or comments.
Likewise, I've had images posted to NPN that were not viewed often or commented on frequently, but I've entered them in national and international photo or art competitions and got juried into the finals and even picked up a couple of minor awards.
Actually, one thing that might be helpful would be if a count could be supplied that separated the views from NPN members and others: Total Views, NPN Views, Comments. This might actually provide valuable feedback, especially for those more into marketing their work to the public.
Posted by Anne K. Rusk on February 9, 2011 at 10:14 PM
Gary, I look at the views compared to other images posted around the same time. Especially since I most often post in flora which has less traffic than others (as you know), the number of views can help me determine if my thumbnail image isn't interersting or if there just aren't many flora-lookers online that day. Great topic!
Posted by Jim Bullard on February 10, 2011 at 9:58 AM
I don't take them too seriously but I am frequently surprised by what gets attention and what doesn't. Things that appeal to me often get fewer 'views' than images I didn't think were my best work. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
Posted by Austin Booth on February 18, 2011 at 2:14 AM
I find that comments are a better indicator of the quality of a photo. If its not a good one people generally ignore it, if it gets at least a few comments its probably decent and if it gets a lot of comments its probably a good one. People are more compelled to comment on a good photo, views only tell you if someone saw it or not, not if they liked it. I know what you mean when sometimes the photos you really like get less attention than others. I think it has something to do with emotional attachment to what you are photographing. Sometimes you think that what you are photographing is a really interesting subject or a really cool location so you have an emotional attachment to it but it is hard to capture that emotional attachment and pass it on to the viewer. Just because it is really interesting in person doesn't mean it makes for a great photo and sometimes things you couldn't care less about just happen to make better photos. It happens to me all the time, an example that comes to mind is a really neat old lava flow in the middle of a river that impressed me when I saw it in person so I had an emotional attachment to it and liked the photos of it. However, in reality it wasn't a very photogenic subject and nobody else really liked the photos as much as I did because they weren't there in person and didn't have the same emotional attachment.
Discussion
17 repliesPersonally I use view count as a guide. Sometimes I am really surprised by the count; some pictures which I personally like a lot, hardly gets a look-in and others get much higher count than I expected. I suppose it is a sort of a reality check in the former. I sometimes get carried away or get attached to certain images and perhaps exaggerate their worth.
Does high count means higher appeal factor? I don't sell images but for those who sells their images, does high count translate to higher sales?
I do use the count to decide whether to keep an image on my gallery for longer than the usual retention period. As the number of images in my gallery grows, I would probably have to up the threshold to fit new ones in. I have not done that yet but when I do, it is perhaps an 'objective' measure that the appeal factor in my photos has improved??
I tend to pay more attention to the ratio of view count to comments. 100 views and 1 comment says one thing about the image and 100 views and 50 comments says something else entirely.
I also think the thumbnail can have something to do with lower view counts. Often the viewer can get all the info they need just from the thumbnail and unless they are interested in posting a comment they won't proceed to register a count.
I post images for critique primarily to see if the viewer sees something "wrong" with the image that I may have missed whether in processing or some technical aspect of using the camera.
Interesting topic you've raised....
On the other hand, in evaluating viewer response I do sometimes consider the ratio of views to comments . . . my sense is that if I have a lot of views and very few comments on a particular shot, then the image either has some problems that people don't want to take the time to address or is simply unappealing. To me, that ratio can be a meaningful indicator of the "unspoken" sentiments of viewers . . . much more so than the number of views itself.
This is an interesting topic and I'm glad you posted it!
[EDIT] Just saw Mark's comment after I posted. Looks like we have some pretty similar thoughts.
To me, there are so many variables involved in the number of "views", view count really means very little to me.
For instance, since I'm on the west coast and don't have much time during the day, I often post late at night (which is 2-3 hrs later still for the rest of the US) and the image is half-buried by the morning. THis likely affects the view count. So does [posting on a weekend vs a weekday.
I'm always happy to see that some people were interested enough in one of my thumbnails to open the picture, but even that is odd, because some really excellent images from others just don't appesar very interesting in thumbnails.
Sandy
Who knows...
--P
When I'm commenting on images before posting an image, I don't look at the thumbnails or the titles but that comment is an aside.
Again, IMO, even the ratio of views to comments is irrelevant since the general public cannot comment.
My 2-cents.
Carol
Amen.
It certainly depends on your motives for posting, but I'll take a single meaty comment over 1,000 views.
Gary,
I think the answer to this is most likely no for views on NPN. It has been said often in the photo marketing forum that other photographers are not your best target market. Depending on your sales venue (mine is the outdoor art fair) hits on a web site (at least on mine) do seem to show some correlation with popularity and therefore sales.
Hope my reply was not too far off subject. As for the rest of your questions I think the other who commented have covered it well.
Likewise, I've had images posted to NPN that were not viewed often or commented on frequently, but I've entered them in national and international photo or art competitions and got juried into the finals and even picked up a couple of minor awards.
Actually, one thing that might be helpful would be if a count could be supplied that separated the views from NPN members and others: Total Views, NPN Views, Comments. This might actually provide valuable feedback, especially for those more into marketing their work to the public.