Polylooks reveals Brits’ photo sharing habits
Photos were made for sharing
With the prevalence of decent quality cameras on mobile phones and affordable, easy to manage point and click digital cameras, we decided to take a closer look at how Brits treat photos. It was great to learn, for example, that while two-thirds (68 per cent) of young people share their photos on social networks such as Flickr and Facebook, some 29 per cent of women and 20 per cent of men still enjoy printing out photos and keeping ‘traditional’ physical photo albums.
We commissioned research group YouGov to quiz more than 2,200 people from across Great Britain about the way they treat digital photography, and the findings make interesting reading. Women (35 per cent) and slightly more likely to share photos over social networks than men (32 per cent), while men (17 per cent) are twice as likely as women (nine per cent) to spend more than £400 on a camera.
Phones no substitute for cameras
When it comes to taking pictures, it is clear that the rise and rise of ever more intuitive camera phones does not pose a threat to traditional photography. While only seven per cent of Britons say that using their camera phone has heightened their interest in photography, just over a fifth (21 per cent) believe that their camera phone is sufficient for their photographic needs. Nearly one in three interviewed in the survey (28 per cent) owns an SLR (single-lens reflex camera).
Interesting, we also found that almost one in ten (nine per cent) have considered converting their passion for photography into a career at some point in their life and a similar number (ten per cent) say they would consider submitting their images on microstock sites, such as Polylooks.
When it comes to sharing images, Londoners are more ‘social’ than those in other regions of the UK. Londoners (12 per cent) believe that sharing photos is a critical part of the way they interact with their friends and family, putting more emphasis on images than those in the rest of the south (six per cent) and Wales (five per cent).
What is clear is that the British passion for photography remains as strong as ever. Our survey demonstrates that while many of us now have a decent camera as part of our mobile phone, most British consumers prefer to use a high-quality camera for personal photography.
Also – great news for microstock – a comparatively large amount would like the option to make money from their images. Find out more on how to buy and sell images online with our online microstock guides.
