Research finds 94% of UK parents have posted photos of their kids online
Many babies are making their photographic debut on social media within an hour of their birth, according to research conducted in the UK.
On average, images of more than two-thirds of newborns now appear online within 60 minutes, while the birth of England's Prince George encouraged 74% of parents to increase the amount of baby and children snaps they uploaded.
The poll by print site www.posterista.co.uk, which surveyed 2,367 parents of children aged five and under, aimed to discover the impact social media have had on the way new parents share information and images of their offspring.
Parents were asked how soon it was after their child was born that an image appeared on social media, and the average time period was 57.9 minutes.
When questioned on who specifically uploaded these images, only 62% of parents acknowledged they did it themselves, with other family members (22%) and friends (16%) responsible for posting the remaining images.
The most popular outlets for displaying these images were Facebook (77%), Instagram (48%) and Flickr (32%).
Of the individuals polled in the study, 64% admitted that they upload images of their children to social media outlets at least three times a week, while 21% said at least three times a month, and only 6% said they never upload pictures of their children to their social pages.
The top five reasons cited for sharing these images online included keeping distant family and friends updated (56%), expressing love for their children (49%), describing it as an ideal location to store memories (34%), saying it is a great way to record children’s early years (28%), and to brag to and “better” other parents’ photos (22%).
Marc Phelps, the site’s co-founder, said: “The fact that a picture of the average newborn is now online within an hour just goes to highlight the enormous impact social media has had on our lives in the past five years, and how prevalent these pages are in helping to keep loved ones informed on the special occasions in our lives, such as the birth of a new child.”
