Sociology
Social Aesthetics and the Judgment of Taste in Online Photography
Quick fact
A 2020 study found that Instagram photos with certain aesthetic features—like high color saturation and symmetrical composition—consistently receive more likes and comments, regardless of the actual content, revealing that social feedback, not just formal beauty, steers our taste.
Why this is interesting
Scrolling through Instagram, you instantly know an image is 'good'—but have you ever wondered who decided that?
Read the full explanation
Understanding Social Aesthetics and the Judgment of Taste in Online Photography
Think of online photography as a conversation. When you post a photo, you're not just sharing an image; you're making a pitch for a certain identity. Your audience reacts with likes, comments, and shares—these are social votes. Over time, you learn what your community values: maybe it's moody shadows, or vibrant street scenes, or minimal landscapes. You adjust. This is social aesthetics in action: taste isn't an inherent property of the image, but a negotiated agreement between you and your audience. Algorithms amplify this by showing your work to people who are likely to engage, based on past behavior. So what becomes 'beautiful' is a feedback loop: your sense of taste evolves in conversation with the reactions you receive.
A deeper explanation
Why does this happen? Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu argued that taste is a social weapon: we use it to define who we are and to distinguish ourselves from others. In online spaces, the same mechanism plays out, but with new dynamics. Platforms are not neutral stages; they are curated environments. Algorithms decide what appears in feeds, creating an environment where certain aesthetic patterns become more visible and thus more 'legitimate.' As users, we subconsciously learn these patterns, and we mimic them to gain social approval. This is a process of collective definition: taste emerges from the constant interaction between user action, algorithmic feedback, and peer comparison. The result is a dynamic, ever-shifting set of aesthetic norms that are as much about social belonging as about visual harmony. Understanding this matters because it reveals that what we consider 'good taste' is not a natural given, but a social achievement shaped by the digital ecosystems we inhabit.