Format matters: which content gets more engagement on social media?

On social media, the same information can be presented in different formats: you can post a photo, upload a video, write a text post, or share a link, and audiences may respond differently to each one.

Let’s take a look at which formats and text lengths get more engagement across 8 social networks and compare these results with Popsters data from 2022.

Content Formats on Social Media

Popsters statistics identify 4 main content formats, and posts are automatically categorized based on their content.

Text — posts where text is the main content.
Photo — posts with photos or other static images.
Video — posts with video content, including short-form and regular videos.
Link — posts containing an external link or a link to another page.

Which content formats get the most engagement?

*Data is current as of August 2026

The percentages in the table show the level of engagement received by posts in each format. The higher the value, the more interactions posts in that format receive on average.

This metric can be calculated not only for the data in this study, but also for any page in Popsters. This makes it possible to compare post formats for a specific community and see which ones receive more engagement from its audience.

As the table shows, there is no single format that leads across all platforms. Text performs best on Facebook, Odnoklassniki (OK), X, and Telegram; photos perform best on Instagram; and video leads on TikTok. On VK and YouTube, the engagement levels of two formats are almost identical.

What text length gets the most engagement?

Depending on text length, posts in Popsters statistics are divided into three categories: short, medium, and long.

Short — up to 160 characters;
Medium — from 160 to 1 000 characters;
Long — more than 1 000 characters.

*Data is current as of August 2026

When it comes to text length, medium-length posts get more engagement on most social networks. The exceptions are Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, where shorter texts perform better. Therefore, when adapting content for different social networks, it is worth considering not only the post format but also its length.

How have audience preferences changed since 2022?

To understand how audience preferences for different content formats and text lengths have changed, we compared Popsters data from August 2026 with the results of the 2023 study. The study analyzed 240 million posts from 937,000 pages across 8 social networks: Facebook, Instagram, VK, OK, X, YouTube, TikTok, and Telegram.

On Instagram, Facebook, and X, video engagement has increased noticeably, while links have become less engaging on these platforms.

(Facebook — August 2026 and 2022 respectively)

On Telegram engagement with links increased slightly, while the performance of other formats changed only marginally.

(Telegram — August 2026 and 2022 respectively)

Overall, video has become noticeably more important to audiences on several social networks over the past few years, while links, on the contrary, have lost some of their engagement. However, the exact changes vary depending on the social network.

Have posts become shorter?

Over the past few years, preferences for text length have changed, but there is no single trend across all social networks. On X medium-length posts have seen a noticeable increase in engagement, while short texts become less engaging.

(X — August 2026 and 2022 respectively)

On Instagram engagement with short-text posts has increased, while engagement with long-text posts has decreased.

(Instagram — August 2026 and 2022 respectively)

On Facebook short posts are still the most engaging, although their engagement has decreased from 51.9% to 41.64%.

On YouTube the trend is reversed: engagement with short posts increased from 19.6% to 34.11%, although medium-length texts are still the most engaging.

On Telegram interest in long texts has increased slightly, from 25.4% to 32.95%, while engagement with short texts has decreased.

Overall, audiences have not simply shifted toward shorter or longer texts. The changes vary from platform to platform, so text length is also worth considering when adapting content for different social networks.

What should you consider when preparing posts?

A comparison of Popsters data from 2022 and 2026 shows that engagement depends on several factors. Therefore, simply reposting the same content without adapting it for each platform does not always make sense.

When preparing posts, there are a few simple things to consider:

Format.
Text length.
Platform specifics. Each platform has its own audience and user habits, so there is no universal format or text length that works everywhere.

Overall, engagement depends not only on what we publish, but also on where and how we publish it. When creating content, it is therefore worth considering several factors rather than choosing a format simply because it performs best on average.