If you thought your #WomanCrushWednesday and #ManCrushMonday were the most revealing picture on your Instagram, think again as new research says otherwise.
Scientists have been studying 25,000 Instagram posts to understand what the colours of our feed say about us. Digging deeper than whether a sepia shade suggests you want a cinematic shot, their research considers personality and the colour spectrum at the same time. They can tell our gender, loneliness, creativity and confidence just from the shades of our shots.
Unsurprisingly, people who post black and white pictures (like Aziz Ansari) perceive themselves as artistic and hip but sadly the researchers found that they are also unlucky in love. The more unhappy you are in a relationship, reportedly the fewer colours you use.
The brighter and more diverse your feed (like Beyonce), findings suggest you are more ‘agreeable’. But, don’t be too erratic as the study found that a disharmonious palette points to emotional volatility and neuroticism.
A Korean team studied 180 students for the Information Processing and Management Journal and published their detailded findings in a study titled, 'Instagram user characteristics and the color of their photos: Colorfulness, color diversity, and color harmony'. They looked in detail at their Instagram profiles and gauged their personalities using a survey that asked them questions on a spectrum. For instance, they were quizzed on how agreeable they were and measured with sentences like, ‘I am helpful and unselfish with others’.
Suddenly rethinking every single photograph we've ever uploaded to Instagram so our mum's don't read too much into our relationship status.