Why is this flickr photo so popular?

September 14, 2005 1:37 PM

Why am I getting so many views on one particular Flickr photo?

One of my Hurricane Katrina photos is wildly more popular than the others. And it's not a particularly good pic. Is there a way to find out if this picture has been linked somewhere? Or can someone out there tell me why it's so compelling?

It's had over 67,000 views, but none of my other photos are near that. There are also 60 comments on it, but that can't really explain it's popularity since it was well over 40,000 views before people started commenting. (I thought about deleting the comments, but...well, they provide an "interesting" perspective on their own.)

I looked to see if it was ever a "picture of the day" or anything like that, but I couldn't find anything. I'm mostly just curious, since, as I said, it's not even really a good picture.

posted by ColdChef to Computers & Internet (32 answers total)

Looks like it's the center of some kind of strange political debate...despite the fact that it's a picture of a broken tree. That might explain the abnormal number of views somewhat.
posted by voltairemodern at 1:42 PM on September 14, 2005

I don't know why that picture has so many views, but the comments are funny as hell. It's like a tiny little world of its own, discovering the Bush sucks/Bush rules dichotomy for the first time.

These are special moments.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 1:44 PM on September 14, 2005

God the horrors of that storm. Look what it left on your lawn!

Kidding (cute), I'd say you are linked if I were a betting man.
posted by Pollomacho at 1:45 PM on September 14, 2005

I'm guessing somebody big linked to it.
posted by curtm at 1:46 PM on September 14, 2005

Given the number of long-winded comments from conservative nullos, I'd say that the previous liberal commentary must have been linked to on a conservative blog or forum somewhere.

Also, howdy from another ex-TSP guy keeping it real.
posted by grouse at 1:48 PM on September 14, 2005

Response by poster: Looks like it's the center of some kind of strange political debate.

I can understand that a little, but, as I said, the numbers were high even before people started leaving comments.

There are currently 1609 photos in the Hurricane Katrina pool, and I can't find any that have even CLOSE to that number of views. Is 67,000 a lot? Because it seems like a lot.
posted by ColdChef at 1:49 PM on September 14, 2005

I'm curious about why so many of the comments are from users who haven't posted images... Is someone (not you, CC) up to something naughty?
posted by hamfisted at 1:50 PM on September 14, 2005

Response by poster: Is there any way to find out who linked it?
posted by ColdChef at 1:51 PM on September 14, 2005

Response by poster: I'm curious about why so many of the comments are from users who haven't posted images

That struck me as strange, too.
posted by ColdChef at 1:54 PM on September 14, 2005

Depending on how well/often Google (or Yahoo, or...) indexes Flickr, you may be able to track down someone else's linking/favoriting of your photo with some careful searching. Of course, with a one-word title like "shattered" that's going to a lot harder to pull off. In the ideal case, google will eventually have the link listed in their index such that you can search for sites-linking-to-this-page. Right now, that returns no results, but google has often failed to track links that I know exist, so, well, *shrug*.

It smells to me like pure momentum. Somebody noticed the picture, showed it to someone else, and through a few "lucky" breaks that sort of sharing exploded a little bit. All of a sudden, the picture is on the radar, and so folks go and look at it, and so it gets farther on the radar, and so on. Looking at the comments, I'd say grouse has it right -- someone linked this sucker on well-traveled forum or something.

There's similarly the possibility that your photo was included in someone's email that they forwarded to their fifty best friends, who forwarded to their fifty best friends and relatives and annoyed geek-associates.

Also it could be that this "ynews_photos_katrina" entity that has pegged your photo as a favorite could be an instigating party in the spread. No profiles, no photos, but a collection of favorited Katrina pictures, many of them more striking than your mysteriously popular trunk.

"IT GOES TO SHOW YA DONT EVER TAKE LIFE FO GRANITE"
posted by cortex at 1:54 PM on September 14, 2005

This is really strange...
posted by phrontist at 1:56 PM on September 14, 2005

ColdChef, FWIW: I used the "link:" on Google for all the sizes of the image (5 of them) I could find, plus the page you linked to but I couldn't find anyone who had linked to you. (Doesn't mean it hasn't happened).
posted by safetyfork at 1:58 PM on September 14, 2005

Response by poster: Okay, I found this photo with over 200,000 views, so now I don't feel SO strange. But still...
posted by ColdChef at 2:02 PM on September 14, 2005

On post view: Cortex says it with more context. Good Luck.
This'll be one of those threads that I'd like to know how it turns out. Should the resolution take longer than 30 days...
posted by safetyfork at 2:02 PM on September 14, 2005

Metafilter: EXCUSE ME ALL LIBERAL IDIOTS.

Anyway, you could just chip in and ask some of those people why they are there?
posted by fire&wings at 2:02 PM on September 14, 2005

Best answer: This is all I can find, excluding obvious Metafilter-related links, on Google.
posted by SweetJesus at 2:02 PM on September 14, 2005

SweetJesus, good find.
posted by cortex at 2:07 PM on September 14, 2005

The fact that they dont have pictures means they created an account just to comment.

Why not post a big caption under the photo and as a comment:

"CAN ANY OF YOU COMMENTERS TELL ME HOW YOU FOUND THIS PHOTO??? THANKS!!"
posted by vacapinta at 2:08 PM on September 14, 2005

This picture has been viewed nearly 300,000 times. I found it by Googling some of the user IDs of people who'd posted comments on your picture. sam_vvise (one of the bigger jerks in the list) commented on both.

Not that that helps, but I thought it was interesting.
posted by cerebus19 at 2:09 PM on September 14, 2005

Upon more searching, I'm guessing it's because of Sara Ford's weblog. Searching for your flicker id will bring up any page that links to your flickr account, and all I'm getting on Google is hits from her site. She's a developer with Microsoft, so she may have a wide audience.
posted by SweetJesus at 2:09 PM on September 14, 2005 [1 favorite]

Google cache of a page that had a few of your photos linked, though not the one in question...

Random bloggage. Again, not the right picture.

O mystery!
posted by cortex at 2:13 PM on September 14, 2005

Response by poster: I suppose I could do that. Kinda takes the fun out of it, though. I'm actually embarrassed that never occurred to me.

Thanks, SweetJesus. If she actually buys me a drink, I'll split it with you.
posted by ColdChef at 2:15 PM on September 14, 2005

Best answer: As far as I can tell, the only places linking directly to that photo are here and here [warning: photo of dead body].

Aha, here it is. Cortex tipped me off, and sure enough, Yahoo News' Katrina coverage page has a link to "Flickr Photo's: Editors' Picks," which goes to the favorites gallery of ynews_photos_katrina, including your tree picture.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 2:16 PM on September 14, 2005 [1 favorite]

On doing more research, I suspect it's due to StumbleUpon. This page links to the Yahoo! News Flickr Photostream for Katrina pictures (which I couldn't find a link to on Yahoo! News), and that page links to your photo. It also links to the other photo I mentioned earlier.
posted by cerebus19 at 2:17 PM on September 14, 2005

Good catch, monju_bosatsu. I looked at that page but didn't see that at all.
posted by cerebus19 at 2:18 PM on September 14, 2005

Response by poster: Okay, I've posted the question in the thread. I'll let you know if anyone gives me an answer.

The Yahoo link seems to be the most obvious culprit. And I've let Sara know that I'll be taking my drink now, thank you very much. :)

Thanks for the help, Clue Crew!
posted by ColdChef at 2:25 PM on September 14, 2005

if someone could recap this thread in the style of a basketball announcer i think we'd all thank you
posted by cortex at 2:26 PM on September 14, 2005

ok... after reading those let me say... take some f***ing grammar lessons... next, i want to point out

Lolerskates.
posted by delmoi at 2:27 PM on September 14, 2005

A Google Blog Search only turned up this.
posted by mcwetboy at 3:07 PM on September 14, 2005

(Sorry, was blind to monju's post above.)
posted by mcwetboy at 3:09 PM on September 14, 2005

Awesome photo.
posted by caddis at 4:57 PM on September 14, 2005

The fact that they dont have pictures means they created an account just to comment.

I'm guessing it's because they're Yahoo! users who found the photo via Yahoo! and used that account, not a flickr one, to comment.
posted by tracicle at 9:04 PM on September 14, 2005