I just got Ace membership and I was looking through my stats and I noticed my highest rated photos, which at first glance seemed to be ranked by the number of views seemed to actually be ordered in a different way.
I am amazed you got on here. I have had censorship for this subject with a sign that said 'STOP!' saying it's been done before and then deleting my message. So, I asked my followers. Here is a very helpful answer I got:
1. It's a computer program, and not a personal opinion that selects the pictures
2. The program takes into account a ratio, rather than an absolute number, which includes the number of views, comments & favs, the number of followers and the rate at which those views, comments & favs came. This means that when someone with a small number of followers gets a high percentage of their followers viewing, commenting and faving them, quickly after the picture has been loaded, the pic will likely end up on the Popular page because it was popular amongst the followers of that person. In that way the 'small' have some chance against the 'large'.
3. Getting the ratio above to tip you onto the popular page is influenced by the time of day you load (i.e. are your followers online when you load) and the relative popularity of other pics on the same day.
4. Ross will never divulge the algorithm for the Popular Page, because that will increase the number who ‘game’ the system.
For all that, you can check people with the same amount of followers and they can have less of all the elements and they might get there and you don't, or the reverse. People's advice is not to worry PP. It's baffling.
1. It's a computer program, and not a personal opinion that selects the pictures
2. The program takes into account a ratio, rather than an absolute number, which includes the number of views, comments & favs, the number of followers and the rate at which those views, comments & favs came. This means that when someone with a small number of followers gets a high percentage of their followers viewing, commenting and faving them, quickly after the picture has been loaded, the pic will likely end up on the Popular page because it was popular amongst the followers of that person. In that way the 'small' have some chance against the 'large'.
3. Getting the ratio above to tip you onto the popular page is influenced by the time of day you load (i.e. are your followers online when you load) and the relative popularity of other pics on the same day.
4. Ross will never divulge the algorithm for the Popular Page, because that will increase the number who ‘game’ the system.
Courtesy of @eleanor
For all that, you can check people with the same amount of followers and they can have less of all the elements and they might get there and you don't, or the reverse. People's advice is not to worry PP. It's baffling.