Getting Started
So I saw people talking about Miharu Shinjo blowing up on Instagram recently. Honestly, I was just curious about what kind of pics were actually getting the most love. Figured it might be interesting content, you know? Plus, I’m always messing around with checking engagement stuff anyway. Wanted to see if I could figure it out myself, just for fun.
Figuring Out How to Get the Data
First thing was hitting up Instagram. Searched for her profile. Easy find. Now came the annoying part: actually seeing which of her pics had the most likes. Scrolling feels old school, right? Did it anyway. Instagram’s UI isn’t exactly user-friendly for checking like counts quickly. Had to tap each post manually to see the numbers under the post. Kinda tedious. Wrote down notes on my phone – captions kinda stuff and the like numbers.
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What sucked doing it manually:
- Instagram keeps changing how stuff looks, gotta tap through.
- Scrolling forever if the account has loads of posts.
- Super easy to miss a post or write the number down wrong.
Seriously thought about grabbing a basic web scraper tool to speed things up. Found some on GitHub, got halfway through setting one up… then gave up. Got tangled in some dumb permissions error and decided stick with my notes was faster this time. Maybe next round.
Sorting the Mess & Finding Top 5
Had my scribbled phone notes: post dates, vague descriptions (“that one with flowers,” “blue dress selfie lol”), and the like counts. Pasted everything into a dumb spreadsheet. Made a column for the like count. Sorted high to low. Boom – my numbers showed me the top dogs. Got my five highest counts.
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Why trust my top 5?
- Only counted posts from her main feed, not stories or reels. Feed posts only.
- Checked each one was her post, not someone tagging her.
- Wrote the likes down right when I checked, fresh data.
What Actually Made Those Top 5?
Looked hard at those top 5 pics. Patterns? Oh yeah. Not rocket science, but kinda cool.
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Winners usually had:
- Super bright colors or crazy contrast: Pops way more.
- Direct Eye Contact or Big Smiles: Feel more personal.
- Simple Backgrounds: She’s the star, nothing messy distracting.
- Outfit Focus: Like fashion shots? People liked fashion shots.
Also noticed posting time seemed to matter loads. Weekends, early evenings? Way more traction than mid-week mornings.
Lessons Learned & Why I Bothered
Honestly? It wasn’t super complicated. But it shows you don’t need fancy tools right away to figure out what hits on a big account. Was just me, my phone, a spreadsheet, and being stubborn about scrolling. Makes it feel achievable.
What did I get out of it? Confirms simple stuff works best for engagement sometimes. Bright, personal, clean. Feels real, not staged perfection. Also reminded me to actually pay attention to when I post my own stuff!
Would I do anything different? Next time I tackle something like this, definitely gonna stick it out with that scraper tool. Saves the carpal tunnel. Maybe try it on a few other accounts to compare?
