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How to Make Your Multi-Image Posts Popular? An Approach to Enhanced Grid for Nine Images on Social Media

Qi Xi, Shulin Li, Zhiqi Gao, Zibo Zhang, Shunye Tang, Jianchao Zhang, Liangxu Wang, Yiru Niu, Yan Zhang, Binhui Wang

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the arrangement of nine images in a 3x3 grid affects the attractiveness of multi-image social media posts. It introduces the Optimal Grid for Multiple Images (OGMI) by combining intrinsic popularity assessment ($I^2PA$) and aesthetics scoring via the NIMA model, generating four rearrangement schemes and evaluating them through user studies on a Sina Weibo dataset. The findings show that center-prioritization paired with high aesthetic quality yields the strongest user preferences, providing actionable guidance for content creators and a basis for automated layout tools. Overall, the work advances practical understanding of grid-based post design and offers a toolchain for optimizing nine-image posts to maximize engagement and user experience.

Abstract

The nine-grid layout is commonly used for multi-image posts, arranging nine images in a tic-tac-toe board. This layout effectively presents content within limited space. Moreover, due to the numerous possible arrangements within the nine-image grid, the optimal arrangement that yields the highest level of attractiveness remains unknown. Our study investigates how the arrangement of images within a nine-grid layout affects the overall popularity of the image set, aiming to explore alignment schemes more aligned with user preferences. Based on survey results regarding user preferences in image arrangement, we have identified two ordering sequences that are widely recognized: sequential order and center prioritization, considering both image visual content and aesthetic quality as alignment metrics, resulting in four layout schemes. Finally, we recruited participants to annotate various layout schemes of the same set of images. Our experience-centered evaluation indicates that layout schemes based on aesthetic quality outperformed others. This research yields empirical evidence supporting the optimization of the nine-grid layout for multi-image posts, thereby furnishing content creators with valuable insights to enhance both attractiveness and user experience.

How to Make Your Multi-Image Posts Popular? An Approach to Enhanced Grid for Nine Images on Social Media

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the arrangement of nine images in a 3x3 grid affects the attractiveness of multi-image social media posts. It introduces the Optimal Grid for Multiple Images (OGMI) by combining intrinsic popularity assessment () and aesthetics scoring via the NIMA model, generating four rearrangement schemes and evaluating them through user studies on a Sina Weibo dataset. The findings show that center-prioritization paired with high aesthetic quality yields the strongest user preferences, providing actionable guidance for content creators and a basis for automated layout tools. Overall, the work advances practical understanding of grid-based post design and offers a toolchain for optimizing nine-image posts to maximize engagement and user experience.

Abstract

The nine-grid layout is commonly used for multi-image posts, arranging nine images in a tic-tac-toe board. This layout effectively presents content within limited space. Moreover, due to the numerous possible arrangements within the nine-image grid, the optimal arrangement that yields the highest level of attractiveness remains unknown. Our study investigates how the arrangement of images within a nine-grid layout affects the overall popularity of the image set, aiming to explore alignment schemes more aligned with user preferences. Based on survey results regarding user preferences in image arrangement, we have identified two ordering sequences that are widely recognized: sequential order and center prioritization, considering both image visual content and aesthetic quality as alignment metrics, resulting in four layout schemes. Finally, we recruited participants to annotate various layout schemes of the same set of images. Our experience-centered evaluation indicates that layout schemes based on aesthetic quality outperformed others. This research yields empirical evidence supporting the optimization of the nine-grid layout for multi-image posts, thereby furnishing content creators with valuable insights to enhance both attractiveness and user experience.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 24 sections, 6 figures, 1 table.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Background and Related work
  3. Background
  4. Image Popularity on social media
  5. Position significance of images
  6. Formative Study
  7. Questionnaire Survey
  8. Semi-structured Interview
  9. Findings
  10. Methods
  11. Intrinsic Image Popularity Assessment Model
  12. Introduction to the $I^2PA$ Model
  13. Processing Dataset Images
  14. Aesthetics-quality Model (NIMA Model)
  15. Introduction to NIMA Model
  16. ...and 9 more sections

Figures (6)

  • Figure 1: An example of a multi-image post with nine-grid layout
  • Figure 2: Vote on the position for the best image
  • Figure 3: A set of image pairs from the questionnaire
  • Figure 4: Illustration of position 1-9 in a nine-grid format.
  • Figure 5: Examples of image rearrangements.
  • ...and 1 more figures