Newsletter

Industry Perspective

Young Adults: Highly Engaged in Photography

by Ron Leach

InfoTrends, a leading market research firm in the digital imaging industry, recently released two surveys detailing the enthusiastic photography-related habits of young adults between the ages of 18 and 24. Given the popularity of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace among young people, it’s not surprising that digital images play an important role in the social lives of this demographic group.

Ed Lee, Group Director at InfoTrends, explains that “Digital photography plays a central role in the lives of many young adults. For some it is about capturing and preserving memories, but for many others it is an indispensable form of social interaction.”

According to one study, young adults amassed a much larger collection of photos that other consumers: Total respondents reported capturing about 120 images with their digital cameras every three months, while the figure rose by 50% for young adult males and 85% for young adult females. Those in the 18–24 age group were also more highly engaged in storing images as well: Total respondents reported a total of 900 images stored, while this figure increased by about 120% for young adult males and 60% for young adult females.

Not only do young adults capture and store a greater number of photos that the general population, they also replace their digital cameras at a much faster rate.

In their study of home and retail printing habits, InfoTrends found that young adults—like the general population—most often printed their photos at home. However, female young adults printed fewer photos at home than the general population and were considerably more open to using outside printing sources such as online photo services and photo kiosk print stations.