I haven’t done this for a year or two, but as I’ve just completed my 7th annual photo-a-day project (plus my second 52 in a year weekly photo challenge) I’ve had a quick trawl through the numbers.
And the totals are:
total views of photos chosen as photo of the day (as of 31/12/16): 52,074
average number of views per pic: 142
total favourites: 834 (av 2.8 per pic)
total comments: 199 (av 1.65 per pic)
Despite flickr stats going wobbly a couple of times during the year, I rely on my own spreadsheet, and it tells me last year gained the most views so far (just, 2015 total was 50,633). No photos in explore, (which has inflated the overall total in previous years), but my most viewed photo – the robin below, was possibly due to my decision to select it and add to the flickr group: Your best shot 2016. 796 views as I type this, plus 17 faves and 2 comments.
Other popular photos may also have an explanation: Wordplay (662 views as I type) was the first photo I added to the 52 in 2016 challenge group, and the Book Bench based on Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere story that I stumbled across in Manchester Central library was probably helped by the fact that @neilhimself retweeted my tweet and brought lots of extra viewers! (663 as I type)
And the least viewed? Discounting the last couple of weeks, where photos haven’t been published for very long, the two photos which tie for that ‘honour’ with 31 apiece, are one taken in a gorgeous italian garden we discovered in East Kent, and one taken on our holiday: the temple at Xunantunich.
Both re-published below so they do not feel unloved!
Godinton italian garden, Kent
Xunantunich, Belize
Back to the numbers
33 photos were taken in our garden. 54 were of recognisable London sights – not surprising I guess as I spend most daylight hours there! 21 were taken out and about in the Medway towns.
Despite my vow each year to try and take more photos of people, I’ve failed again – just 8 contain people, although there were 7 featuring Neil (although only 1 which showed his face!)
Nature wins overall, with 98 photos featuring birds (34), flowers (32), animals (12) and butterflies (11) plus a variety of fungi and insects – and lots of countryside scenery.
Other interests are well represented in the project too. I captured 8 photos of unesco heritage sites, and 29 of libraries (plus 7 book or book related photos – as I made a point of recording some of the many literary anniversaries last year: Happy Birthday Charlotte Bronte, HG Wells, Beatrix Potter and Roald Dahl).
I chose 13 transport related photo-a day images – including 4 trains and 4 planes, and published 11 sunrises/sunsets. And finally, to dispel they myth that all of social media is about food – but to recognise that sometimes after a long day I do take the odd photo of my supper…… 33 of the photos in the project were food or drink related.
Overall numbers
As a final numbers roundup, aside from the photo-a-day images, on flickr overall I now have 9,078 photos published (some of which are restricted to family and friends only) with 1,170,530 views (according to flickr stats, which as mentioned above, do go through wobbly patches so I’m not 100% sure how reliable they are). And out of that total, I now have 44 photos which have been viewed more than 1,000 times. They are often photo which surprise me – and as I mused above, sometimes there might be an explanation, like flickr explore, a certain group, or social media publicity, but sometimes I have no idea.
Besides the 2 photo projects mentioned, I published a further 15 albums (pretty much the same as every year – although that is completely by chance) – I tend to set up an album when there are a number of photos from a particular place or trip, but do also add photos throughout the year to a number of generic albums, such as garden birds, libraries or fungus forays.
And despite rumours of flickr’s demise, I still haven’t found anything better for a vast collection of gorgeous photos, and a global community of people, many of whom are ‘just like me’ – in many different ways, and isn’t that one of the best things about social media?!
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