Like you mentioned, I instinctively upvote friends. I don't even need to read the post before doing that. These are people I know give out quality consistently so even their shitposts are interesting.
I am one to judge a book by it's cover so I'm attracted to images too be it personal or free-to-use images.
Titles are also important. Too long titles are so stressful to read and there's 80% chance I won't click on the post because of that. Why do people include translation of the topic right in the heading? It irks me.
I don't have a lot of HP and I follow only a few trails. I'm left with about 0.02 upvote power when you take out autovotes and delegated HP, and I hope it means something to someone.
I really don’t like too long post unless it’s a guide, post should be more precise