

HTC One Selfie Phenomenon report, showed that while only 29% of UK adults know the term ‘selfie’, over half of us (51%) of us have taken one. The UK is creating over a million selfies a day.

Although selfies are most likely to be taken by 18-24 years, with three quarters of them having taken a selfie (75%), silver-selfies are popular with nearly a third (29%) of those aged over 65 having taken one.

Looking your best

The research shows that a hard-core of people that take selfies want to look their best, 14% have digitally enhanced them in some way. If you are 18-24 you are much more likely to have altered your photo, just over a third (36%) have admitted to altering their selfies.

Once you have started to edit your selfies you are much more likely to do so on a regularly basis: 44% edit either every, or most selfies they take. Men appear to be far more image conscious, of those who regularly retouch photos 34% of males state they retouch every photo compared to only 13% of females.

The top 5 most common things that have been edited or retouched are:

  1. Skin tone (39%)
  2. Eye colour / brightness (24%)
  3. Eye size / shape (13%)
  4. Figure (11%)
  5. Lips (11%)


Sexy-selfies – be careful who you send them to

Selfies are being used to share intimate pictures especially among the young, with 41%[i] of 18-24 year olds admitting to taking ‘sexy selfies.’ This compares with an average of 25%[ii] of us overall. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the propensity to take ‘sexy selfies’ drops off as you get older with only 4% of those aged 65 and over admitting to taking one.

However, perhaps a word of caution for those thinking of sharing a sexy selfie. When asked more than one in ten (14%) of people said they have regretted sending someone a selfie. But this jumps to one in three (36%) when crossed referenced with those who have sent a ‘sexy selfie.’

Additional Stats from the research

How do we share selfies and where and when do we take them?

When it comes to sharing selfies, Facebook is the most popular place to do so by a wide margin. More public social networks, such as Twitter, Pinterest and dating websites are far less popular.

How do you share selfies?

Facebook                 48%

Text                     14%

WhatsApp                 13%

Twitter                   9%

Instant messenger         8%

Instagram                 8%

Dating website            7%

Snapchat                  5%

Forums                    3%

Pinterest                 2%

Other (please specify)    3%

None of the above        31%

The top five reasons given for why UK adults take selfies are:

  1. To remember a happy moment (35%)
  2. To capture a funny moment (34%)
  3. To capture a nice outfit (15%)
  4. To capture a good hair day (14%)
  5. Because they are feeling confident (13%)


The top 5 places where selfies are taken are:

  1. On holiday (19%)
  2. Living room (19%)
  3. On a night out (17%)
  4. In the bedroom (16%)
  5. At an event e.g. festival, concert, sporting event (10%)


For those aged 18 – 24 the most popular place to take selfies is in their bedroom (36%) followed by a night out (27%).