Goldi-looks effect: How faces unexpectedly change engagement

Should you include a human in your social media post or will it turn your customers off?

Including humans in your social media photos is a great way to engage your audience. However, it can also mean they pay more attention to the people than your product. For that reason, researchers⁽¹⁾ wanted to work out whether there’s a middle ground, where human presence is implied rather than explicit.

I call it the “Goldilooks effect”.

Humans good, faces bad

Humans are wired to pay attention to what other humans are doing.

The Social Hypothesis Theory has taught us that human characteristics (voices, eyes, faces, presence) are processed more quickly and easily than objects and words, and that means they are a short-cut to engaging your audience.

However, including humans in your posts can backfire. For example, another group of researchers⁽²⁾ have found that including a human face decreases people’s ability to imagine themselves in the situation that is being promoted. In tourism posts, seeing the face of someone enjoying a holiday dampened people’s desire to travel to that destination in a way that seeing only the back of that same tourist did not.

It seems a little bit of human presence is good because it stimulates their imagination, but too much and it tips from “this could be me” to “that’s great for you!” 

Goldilooks effect

Wanting to test the hypothesis that too much human presence can dampen customer enthusiasm, researchers created three different versions of an ad for a treadmill.

• In one version, the treadmill was pictured on its own without any human presence.
• In another, a woman was pictured running on the treadmill.
• In the third, human presence was implied with a workout towel and water bottle sitting on the treadmill. 

Three hundred study participants were then presented with a choice between two treadmill brands. The product’s attributes (price, ratings, warranty) were the same, but the images had either high, medium or no human presence.

👉  Overwhelmingly, participants chose the medium social presence treadmill (towel and bottle) more than either the high-presence (woman running) or no-presence option. 

The effects of social presence seem to be strongest when the product is set against a plain background. When tested using an in-situ (consumption) backdrop, like a gym in this case or a restaurant for food products, social presence isn’t relied upon as much to evaluate the product.

That means that while the contextual background may enhance consumer engagement with a post, it may also distract them from evaluating and ultimately choosing the product.

In summary, think of the Goldilooks effect as follows:

• No human presence, your post is too cold. It is the least engaging type of post.
• Physical human presence, your post is too hot. You might distract them from your product.
• Implied human presence, your post is just right! It feels warm but they can focus on your product, especially when you use a plain background.

This article also appeared in Smartcompany.

_{1. Poirier, S, Cosby, S,  Sénécal, S, Coursaris, C, Fredette, M & Léger, P, 2024. "The impact of social presence cues in social media product photos on consumers’ purchase intentions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).}

_{2. Li, Y, & Wan, L. Inspiring tourists’ imagination: How and when human presence in photographs enhances travel mental simulation and destination attractiveness, Tourism Management, Volume 106, 2025.}