Using instagram picture features to predict users’ personality

Abstract

Instagram is a popular social networking application, which allows photo-sharing and applying different photo filters to adjust the appearance of a picture. By applying these filters, users are able to create a style that they want to express to their audience. In this study we tried to infer personality traits from the way users manipulate the appearance of their pictures by applying filters to them. To investigate this relationship, we studied the relationship between picture features and personality traits. To collect data, we conducted an online survey where we asked participants to fill in a personality questionnaire, and grant us access to their Instagram account through the Instagram API. Among 113 participants and 22,398 extracted Instagram pictures, we found distinct picture features (e.g., relevant to hue, brightness, saturation) that are related to personality traits. Our findings suggest a relationship between personality traits and these picture features. Based on our findings, we also show that personality traits can be accurately predicted. This allow for new ways to extract personality traits from social media trails, and new ways to facilitate personalized systems.