Skip to main content

Chocolate vs. vanilla? It’s not even a contest, Instagram analysis finds

instagram chocolate screen shot 2016 05 16 at 2 52 18 pm
Image used with permission by copyright holder
There’s a reason we use “vanilla” to describe things that don’t elicit much excitement. Don’t take it from us –- take it from the Instagrammers of America, who have proven once and for all that when it comes to the great chocolate-versus-vanilla debate, there’s really no room for argument. Chocolate reigns supreme.

Cakejournal recently took a close look at the most Instagrammed desserts across the country and their flavors of choice, and the results are clear. When it comes to America’s sweet tooth, it’s all about the chocolate.

Recommended Videos

When Cakejournal analyzed geotagged Instagram baking posts based on flavor mentions, they found that 44 states mention chocolate most often, with just a few states mentioning other flavors like coffee, cinnamon, raspberry, strawberry, and peanut butter as their favorites. But absolutely no state cited vanilla as their go-to flavor.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

The great American cookie appears to be social media’s dessert of choice, with 36 states posting most frequently about this particular baked good. Cake is also particularly popular, with 11 states Instagramming these sweet confections the most. And while shops like Sprinkles and Crumbs may be sweeping the nation, cupcakes aren’t all that Instagrammable, it seems. Only two states saw the most posts about the little cousin of the full-sized cake.

20160526_Confections_of_Perfection_asset2
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Despite the fact that there aren’t all that many posts about cupcakes across the country, there’s certainly more variation when it comes to flavor. While chocolate is the most popular cake flavor across 46 states, it seems that bakers and fans get a bit more creative when the mini version is involved. Sure, chocolate is still the overall winner, but vanilla gets a shout-out from six states, whereas four prefer caramel. There’s also quite a bit of love for fruits and vegetables, with apple, strawberry, carrot, and pumpkin cupcakes favored. And of course, there are spice lovers too, with cinnamon, red velvet, and coffee topping the charts in a few states.

20160526_Confections_of_Perfection_asset4
Image used with permission by copyright holder

So the next time you’re baking, be sure to Instagram your sweet creation. You never know what sort of important database your flavors may be contributing to.

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
Instagram plays catch-up by finally paying its creators. Will they stay?
Instagram creators

Instagram announced Wednesday it will start paying influencers a share of advertising revenue, joining competitors YouTube and TikTok in paying its creators. But the move begs the question: Why has it taken Instagram so long to join its peers -- and is the move enough to keep creators on the platform?

It may be surprising to learn that Instagram wasn’t already taking measures to ensure creators stuck with the platform instead of jumping ship to another that actually pays them for the engagement and users they bring.

Read more
It’s time for Instagram to fully embrace the desktop
its time for instagram to fully embrace the desktop instagra

Since its inception in October 2010, Instagram has shaped its core functions around a streamlined mobile interface. The service didn’t arrive on desktop until November 2012, when Instagram began to let users view photos within a web browser in a stripped-down experience. Since then, new features have trickled into the web app. With the recent addition of direct messaging, it seems the only thing Instagram doesn’t let you do from a desktop is its main feature: Post a photo.

This is especially strange given that you can send a photo uploaded from the desktop through a DM, so all the tools to allow users to post from desktop seem to be in place. Digital Trends reached out to Instagram for clarification on why the company still prefers to reserve core features for mobile, but did not hear back as of press time. Whatever the reasoning, we’d argue that bringing feature parity to desktop would be the right move for the photo-sharing app.
Instagram has grown beyond mobile
There was a time when Instagram would be forgiven for a barebones desktop experience. In its early days, when only pictures shot with a phone could be shared, restricting the service to mobile made sense. This inspired a new wave of snapshot photography augmented by Instagram’s many film-inspired filters. The selfie took off as an art form, every meal you ate was suddenly worth showcasing, and baristas became artists.

Read more
Instagram appears to be raking in even more ad cash than YouTube
how to get followers on instagram 7

With every year that passes, Facebook’s 2012 acquisition of Instagram for a billion bucks looks like an even bigger bargain — especially when you consider the kind of cash the photo app is raking in for its parent company.

Instagram pulled in around $20 billion in ad revenue in 2019, according to Bloomberg sources claiming to have knowledge of the matter. That’s an impressive sum whichever way you look at it; in fact, it’s more than a quarter of Facebook’s entire revenue last year, and also $5 billion more than Google-owned YouTube generated via ads in 2019.

Read more