A social experiment with 2000 bloggers

January 28th, 2007 • Related • Filed Under

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Tino from www.trade-pals.com has kindly allowed me to use his 2000 bloggers list to try a social experiment.

If you have not heard about the 2000 bloggers list Click here.

For this little experiment I am trying to find out what features would make you click on a photo to find out more information about that persons blog. If you are willing can you look through all the photos on the list and pick a few that stand out. Now right click on the photo and click on properties and copy the link and paste it into a comment and try and explain what attracted you to the photo. Can you also put what country you come from as well.

This is not about sexual attraction (although I suspect that will come into it) it is about finding out the features that attract other people e.g. a smile, a colour of hair, the colour of the skin etc etc.

If I get enough replies I will compile some graphs and charts to find out the most popular features and reasons for clicking.

John Novak - A Guy From Las Vegas... We Just Had To Include A Guy From Vegas!!!

Popularity: 13% [?]

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There Are 61 Responses So Far. »

Comment by Tisha on 28 January 2007:

My comment was flagged as spam dude I’ll try and send it by e-mail if I find your e-mail address on here.
Excellent initiative, should be very interesting!

http://www.tinobuntic.blogspot.com - I want to have his babies, he’s a genius!

http://tishabest.blogspot.com - that’s me, what can I say I’m egocentric

http://www.ambermac.typepad.com - she’s laughing and that made me smile

http://nevblog.com - he looks pretty wacky, love that!

http://filmica.com/delafuente and http://paulamooney.blogspot.com and http://mariusmuscalu.com/ - like the close up

http://www.bondsbigleathercouch.blogspot.com - he’s the best friend a girl can ask for

http://www.mohdshamsaiman.net/blog - love the beard

Comment by Starrlight on 28 January 2007:

For me the number 1 thing is familiarity. Not that I actually know the people (although in this case I do recognize quite a few!) it is more that they look familiar. If they look like me, or an ex, or the kidlet, or family. That seems to be the biggie.

Or if they are hot

Comment by ilker on 28 January 2007:

Hope this won’t be flagged as spam but check out my pixel sized 2000 Blogger collage. Clicking randomly in it got me here!

Comment by Steven Aitchison on 28 January 2007:

One of the reasons was the warm and open smile and the sense of fun from this picture.

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o108/2000bloggers/amacstylin.jpg

I picked this one as she reminded me of Monica from friends and it was a program I loved a few years ago.

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o108/2000bloggers/jaxlatest.jpg

This guy looks intelligent and beards always remind me of intelligence.

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o108/2000bloggers/shersteve5.jpg

This looked like an interesting photo in that she looked like a stand up comedian.

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o108/2000bloggers/rosie13.gif

Comment by Mike Sansone on 29 January 2007:

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o108/2000bloggers/amacstylin.jpg - An honest, contagious smile

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o108/2000bloggers/philgerbyshak.jpg - Big smile and eyes to the camera (or the reader)

Rally, the smiles get me first. Honest eyes looking forward get me second.

Comment by Marshmallow on 29 January 2007:

If the photography is creative and innovative, then I click the photos.

For example, I like this one of Heather Armstrong from Dooce - its quite artistic and of high quality. Also, I liked this one from ‘A Shel of my former self’ and this one of Ryan.

Funny though, my photo is probably the least artistic and the poorest quality of the lot O_O

I generally do not click on photos where they look like they’re whoring themselves around (even though if you go to Margaret Cho’s blog, she’s demonstrating Bellydance).

*fingers crossed that all of the html doesn’t break*

Trackback by zlythern on 29 January 2007:

2000 Bloggers - Are You One ?…

Tino Buntic from Trade Pals, coined the idea for Project 2000 Bloggers.
The response to this was quite amazing to watch And Tino is surely workin hard on addin the bloggers mine got up there real quick

This project is on Digg too
Som…..

Comment by Mira (Macedonia) on 29 January 2007:

http://unixjunkie.blogspot.com/
he looked like one my friend, and on a profile i have read that we have same interests in music, movies, book. Great coincidence.

Comment by Robyn McMaster on 29 January 2007:

Hi, I like the way you creatively built on Tico’s start with 2000 bloggers. I picked Michelle Corey because she looked like she was a person with something to say. Her blog, Knee Deep is located at http://advanced-approach.blogs.com/knee_deep/. Though she’s a stay-at-home Mom she’s found a way to go deeper. Nice find. Thanks for a great idea.

Comment by Michael Sync on 29 January 2007:

Good Job.. Keep it up..

Comment by Jeannette on 29 January 2007:

I liked the simple (but bright) background of this photo. Surprise!! His blogsite reflected the same simplicity.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Oddly, that’s the only one that my eye was drawn to.

Comment by J David on 29 January 2007:

Well, I definitely clicked on people who neighbor me on the list. Oh, and I clicked on the paperclip guy, because I was curious.

Comment by Roy Cassas on 29 January 2007:

http://royboy81.blogspot.com/ - cuz it’s me, duh…
http://condo-maniacal.blogspot.com/ - legs in panty-hose, I mean, come on, who’s not gonna click on that!
http://sliceofpink.typepad.com/ - a person taking a picture; looks cool and interesting.

Pingback by Join the 2000 Bloggers Project on 29 January 2007:

[...] Steven Aitchison is running a little experiment to find out what features would make you click on a photo to find out more information about that persons blog. Li Evans conducted an interview with Tino Buntic to find out more… “In terms of benefits to others, it’s quite a bit. Absolutely every blog on that page is getting links. For example, Technorati is crediting every blog on 2000 bloggers with a link. In addition, that collage is constantly being re-published on other blogs and so people are now getting multiple links to their blogs.” [...]

Comment by Holly Schwendiman on 29 January 2007:

It’s been an interesting project to be sure. I found myself drawn to photos of those who looked confident in themselves, warm and like they had something worthy of sharing. I’ve not been disappointed in each random click, and often pleasantly surprised to find that we share interests, styles or beliefs. Amazing that so much come through such a small picture.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting to know other list members a bit. I visit each one that sends a link back to my dashboard as well as randomly click on a few here and there. Fun stuff!

Hugs,
Holly
Holly’s Corner

Trackback by Loosely Speaking—A Virtual Assistant's Blog on 29 January 2007:

2000 Bloggers…

I don’t know that there is any special about this, but my friend Angela Parker mentioned the 2000 Bloggers project during her seminar last week and … I’m in it!
Interesting, without doubt, but how to analyze the significance? To see…

Comment by saskboy on 29 January 2007:

I tried to click as many as possible, mostly from my blog, so if they don’t check Technorati, they’d see in their Stats that I linked to them and visited.

I was impressed by how well my yellow background, red shirt stood out in the collage.

Comment by Ed Reif on 29 January 2007:

I clicked on my own !!!!

Trackback by Increase Your Website Traffic on 29 January 2007:

2000 Bloggers Project Takes Over the World…

That’s the headline I’m anticipating to be on the front page of Technorati, just any day now. I’ll give you the short version of what I know, and instructions for joining, then the next post will be the actual pics.
Okay, there&#8217…

Comment by Steven Aitchison on 29 January 2007:

This is great stuff, there are a few trends emerging in this experiment. Thanks to everyone who has particiapted so far

Comment by Angelica on 29 January 2007:

oh guys.. what do you think about this one? http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o108/2000bloggers/angelica.jpg
hehehe .. kidding thats me of course!

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o108/2000bloggers/leen.jpg

Comment by Angelica on 29 January 2007:

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o108/2000bloggers/leen.jpg

actually.. i like this one. She looks simple, yet pretty and smart.

By the way, I’m from the Philippines.

(Sorry that I leave 2 post.. please edit them.. i accidentally hit the submit button.. )

Comment by ilker on 29 January 2007:

How about me? http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o108/2000bloggers/ilker.jpg

Comment by Nicole on 30 January 2007:

Cool… off to put a photo on my blog now I hope to make the cut.

Comment by Nicole on 30 January 2007:

Phooto’s now in my hello, aloha, jou san page at the bottom

Comment by Marti on 30 January 2007:

This is such fun! I want to click on everyone - LOL

Synchronicity, I guess, as I did one of those silly M & M characters, and posted my actual face for comparison - LOL

This is a great idea. What a lot of work! Thank you!

Comment by Marti on 30 January 2007:

Duh on me, I forgot to say - I like the warm, confident smiles the best.

Comment by TonNet on 30 January 2007:

http://www.breigh.com/wordpress. She’s a smart german.
http://milt.blogspot.com. Why not? He’s a neighboor!
http://kumikosuzuki.blogspot.com/. Smart japanese business girl.
http://instabloke.blogspot.com/. Bloke of bloggers!

Pingback by What makes people click? » All Tips and Tricks on 30 January 2007:

[...] There is a new kind of social site project invading the blogosphere these days: the 2000 bloggers list, initiated by Tino from http://www.trade-pals.com. The list counts already 1246 bloggers and includes many well-known figures of the virtual world. Another blogger, Steven Aitchinson, from Change your thoughts, started an interesting experiment, for which he needs input from as many readers as possible. “For this little experiment I am trying to find out what features would make you click on a photo to find out more information about that persons blog. If you are willing can you look through all the photos on the list and pick a few that stand out.” [...]

Pingback by Carpark at Accure » Blog Archive » 2000 Bloggers…Are you one? on 31 January 2007:

[...] I guess I’ll be buying the book now. While there’s no doubt it will be an informative and good read, I get to say I’m on the cover of a book. The image up top was made by Ilker Yoldas, who together with some other clear-thinking individuals have taken the project and mashed it with their own flavour and perspective. How 2.0! [...]

Comment by Larry on 31 January 2007:

Because my photo is at the top here, so I scanned from the bottom of the list back to the top. Here’s the photos that jumped out at me:
http://ptparungao.blogspot.com/ Looks like a friend of mine.
http://ilkeryoldas.blogspot.com/ Red flower behind her ear and exotic look appealed to me.
http://www.teamfisher.com/blogs/norm_fisher/default.aspx Why is this guy scratching his head? - made me stop and think about what he might be thinking.
http://macbros.dnsalias.com/blog Serious intensity in his face, almost like this is a persona he is trying to project.
http://embruns.net/ Exact opposite from previous photo. This guy seems to be saying “as if but I’ll play along anyway.”
http://www.neo-neocon.blogspot.com/ Wondering what she’s hiding behind the bright green apple.
http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/ Famous Canadian paper clip guy just because he pulled the entire thing off so well.
Hope this helps your social experiment!

Pingback by Overzichten - Marcom top 100 - Technorati - RSS at Enthousiasmeren on 1 February 2007:

[...] Stel je denkt, he dat wil ik ook. Er is nog ruimte. Er is zelfs een 2000 Bloggers BlogLog Community. Ga naar 2000 Bloggers van Tino Buntic en laat een reactie achter. Steven van Change your thoughts, doet op zijn blog een interessant sociaal experiment. Waarom klik je nu op bepaalde foto’s in de collage van bijna 2000 bloggers. Je kunt ook terecht bij de Nederlands versie van Karel Geenen, nu alweer ruim 70 gezichten. Na een half jaar zak je dan waarschijnlijk wel weer een behoorlijk aantal plaatsen (zie uitleg over Technorati ranking), maar toch. [...]

Comment by Robert Kingston on 1 February 2007:

I think it depends on the people surrounding someone. If there is a huge contrast between one person and the others around them, they’ll stickout.

Also, I believe the more you have seen someone’s face the more you are likely to find them in the 2000 bloggers project.

I remember seeing Des Walsh’s Blog (http://www.thinkinghomebusiness.com/) a while back and I singled him out in the collage.

Comment by Julie on 2 February 2007:

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o108/2000bloggers/photo-07-th.gif - she looks thoughtful

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o108/2000bloggers/profilephoto.jpg - she looks creative

Comment by cooper on 3 February 2007:

http://fastlad.blogspot.com/index.html

http://blog.reddirtroad.ca

right off the bat due to one being different and one looking like they have a sense of humor.

I have clicked on several and I tend to go with the one where I can see their eyes.

Comment by ellamichelle on 3 February 2007:

http://omissco.blogspot.com/(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o108/2000bloggers/profilephoto.jpg)

This one grabbed me because of the expression,there seems to be a sense of fun behind the eyes.

http://sliceofpink.typepad.com/(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o108/2000bloggers/snap.jpg)
Out of the several photos that reverse the perspective by turning the camera on us, this one is most appealing

http://www.mopa.blogbus.com (http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o108/2000bloggers/mopa.jpg)

It looks like a still from an old film.

http://iwantigot.geekigirl.com/(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o108/2000bloggers/geek.jpg)

Once again something behind the eyes, seems like a smart, fun person.

Comment by Steven Aitchison on 3 February 2007:

I will be writing another post next week about this experiment. I am just waiting on more people putting their data in.

Thank you for all your comments so far the results should be interesting.

Comment by colleen on 4 February 2007:

Who do you notice in a crowd? I like the people in hats, men with longish hair, and others who look like they have a sense of humor. I’ve only clicked on about twenty so far.

Comment by Pearl on 5 February 2007:

Avoid someone who looks goofy — I want intelligent not vacuous posts.
Avoid an image that is too staged because a lot of those seem to be marketers or real estate agents.
Avoid ones with parent-baby shot because I’m not looking to read mommy/daddy blogs

Someone who looks friendly and more or less like me
http://liz-henry.blogspot.com/ tech, gender and politics
http://www.maryschmidt.com/ IT and marketing

Someone who looks physically or stylistically different in photo hoping for dif perspective
http://blog.jaybryant.com/
http://motherfac.blogspot.com/

Someone who looks familiar
http://www.citizenofthemonth.com/

Pingback by Change your thoughts » Blog Archive » A get link quick scheme? on 7 February 2007:

[...] Technorati has apparently put a stop to Tino’s ‘2000 Bloggers’ project. You can read their post here. Tino has advised that he took the project down voluntarily after reading the post. Two posts pointed to the project as being “Links are currency, and this collage is a counterfeit factory.”. I think it’s a shame this has happened as it was an interesting project from my point of view as I was using it as a ‘social experiment’ and obviously it was bringing in links for me as well. [...]

Comment by eastcoastlife on 8 February 2007:

I clicked on all the handsome guys and beautiful gals! - becos I’m not pretty myself

Pingback by 2000 Bloggers - » Welcome on 8 February 2007:

[...] Social experiments by Steven Aitchinson [...]

Comment by harinjaka on 8 February 2007:

Hi, here in my collage with a post in Malagasy language I’m from MADAGASCAR

keep up the good work

Pingback by 2000 bloggers e libertà : worldpress on 9 February 2007:

[...] Using it for social experiments (Steven Aitchinson) [...]

Pingback by I’m in 2000 Bloggers. Can you Spot me? Are you in? : Home Business & Internet Marketing on 10 February 2007:

[...] There’s also an entire social experiment going on tracking the results of 2000 bloggers. Steve asks you to post about what attracts you to click on one bloggers photo over another. It’s a pretty interesting read. Heck something as simple as fixing up your photo might help you get more clicks? Crazy, but interesting. [...]

Comment by Adam on 11 February 2007:

I originally saw Tino’s 2000 bloggers project as a follow on idea from that of the somewhat tacky 25 peeps but nonetheless, once again thought how great it is that one idea inspires/spawns the next; very much like what happened with the million dollar homepage idea. But I have to say that I liked Tino’s touch, much more so than 25 peeps. I, like no doubt many others, clicked on many friendly faces. Did you find mine ?

Pingback by 2000 Bloggers - » Participation on 28 February 2007:

[...] You can participate in a social experiment. [...]

Comment by Monica on 1 March 2007:

first is the quality, even from a thumbnail, you can see if the photo is worth clicking. second, I think you ask about people so there has to be sth attracting attention it can be wild smile, or the look, I tend to click on black and white photos for some reason, may be they are more expressive, don’t really know. The other thing is movement, or sth I don’t quite understand and want to see more. I guess this is it.

Pingback by Change your thoughts » Blog Archive » 2000 bloggers social experiment: The results on 4 March 2007:

[...] At last, it’s finally here, the results of the 2000 bloggers social experiment started back in January of this year. As some of you may know Tino Buntic started this 2000 bloggers project, which showcased 2000 bloggers photos and gave a link back to each of them. However this caused a bit of a stir in the Technorati ranks and subsequently Tino pulled the project, through choice. [...]

Comment by Steven Aitchison on 4 March 2007:

Hi everyone. I just wanted to thank everyone who particiapted in this experiment. The results have now been collated and put in a seperate post here:
http://www.stevenaitchison.co.uk/blog/2007/03/04/2000-bloggers-social-experiment-the-results/

Thank you again.

Pingback by 2k Bloggers - a blog of bloggers blogging - » About 2k Bloggers Revised on 4 April 2007:

[...] Bloggers who joined were inspired. Steven Aitchinson used the faces for a social experiment about what faces glean the most attention. Jaffe Juice wants to use the photos as a book cover. He set up a poll in Second Life. Meg decided to meet her neighbors. A few other bloggers followed suit. eDragonu collected astrological information about the bloggers to see if there were any trends. One Powerful Word created a map to see where the bloggers live. The Thinking Blog created banners and mini photos. Serendipity Mine and Nacodine created more banners and buttons. MyBlogLog communities sprung up (2000 Bloggers and 2kBloggers) as well as a Flickr Group to share photos for artistic endeavors. Tino created Blogavista to search the 2k Bloggers. [...]

Comment by Jessica Soler on 10 April 2007:

I clicked on all the ones that where holding a camera, just like me (because was curious to see their pictures) and also on mariusmuscalu.com, the thick eyebrows, b/w picture and the cropping of the face, enfatizing that made it interesting.

Pingback by Rob’s » Blog Archive » 2k Bloggers on 22 June 2007:

[...] Bloggers who joined were inspired. Steven Aitchinson used the faces for a social experiment about what faces glean the most attention. Jaffe Juice wants to use the photos as a book cover. He set up a poll in Second Life. Meg decided to meet her neighbors. A few other bloggers followed suit. eDragonu collected astrological information about the bloggers to see if there were any trends. One Powerful Word created a map to see where the bloggers live. The Thinking Blog created banners and mini photos. Serendipity Mine and Nacodine created more banners and buttons. MyBlogLog communities sprung up (2000 Bloggers and 2kBloggers) as well as a Flickr Group to share photos for artistic endeavors. Tino created Blogavista to search the 2k Bloggers. [...]

Comment by gifts on 13 September 2007:

I had to pick this one

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o108/2000bloggers/jh02.jpg

because it was different from the rest. It stood out and not one of the normal pictures that someone usually uses online. They took an artistic approach to it. I have been pulled more to people that are not the usual and not the ordinary types of people. People that have a unique outlook on life as I do. And when I saw this picture, I felt that maybe she had the same kind of outlook as I do. This has nothing to do with sexual appeal. Being a woman into males, that does not even start to factor into this choice. I just wanted to add this to my comment to help add validity to my comment. I love that you are taking the time to do this. I hope to see the results of your experiment sometime soon.

Pingback by MOST MOST » Blog Archive » Join the 2000 Bloggers Project on 16 January 2008:

[...] Aitchison is running a little experiment to find out what features would make you click on a photo to find out more information about that [...]

Pingback by Work at home - Paid Surveys - Surveyascout.com on 17 March 2008:

[...] http://www.steveaddison.net/2006/01/03/major-trends-20-years-on.html http://www.stevenaitchison.co.uk/blog/2007/01/28/a-social-experiment-with-2000-bloggers/ [...]

Comment by ying3 on 24 June 2008:

http://www.storeingame.com
http://www.storeingame.com/aoc-gold.htm

Comment by Metin2 Yang on 25 September 2008:

I believe that people will click earlier, pictures that either correspond to them self personally or socially. Things that represent their environment, or current sociological events are good indicators.

An educated guess tells me that Donald Trump gets clicked a lot!

Comment by chica84 on 26 December 2008:

Originally it was his lovely skin and juicy lips that drew me to him. I like his style to(the glasses and beanie).

Im really feelin his blogs too