Instagram photos reveal predictive markers of depression

The advent of social media presents a promising new opportunity for early detection and intervention in psychiatric disorders. Predictive screening methods have successfully analyzed online media to detect a number of harmful health conditions [1–11]. All of these studies relied on text analysis, however, and none have yet harnessed the wealth of psychological data encoded in visual social media, such as photographs posted to Instagram. In this report, we introduce a methodology for analyzing photographic data from Instagram to predictively screen for depression. There is good reason to prioritize research into Instagram analysis for health screening.