REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Mar 16, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFLY), the leading Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service, today announced results from a company-sponsored photo sharing survey conducted in February 2009. The most revealing finding: nearly half of all respondents are concerned about the rise in pre-digital images being scanned and openly shared over the internet (for example, scanning and sharing kindergarten photos from 1979). 46 percent of respondents said that they are either on the fence about the practice, or feel that it shouldn’t be done at all. In addition, 87 percent of people think they should have control over which photos are shared online of them and their families, and the majority of respondents do not share photos over the internet unless they are password protected.

The number one thing that bothers people about photo sharing over the internet is potential embarrassment. 64 percent of respondents are bothered by unflattering or embarrassing photos of them appearing online; 70 percent of women were bothered by this practice compared to 58 percent of men.

“With the increasing number of ways to share photos online — from simply sharing via email to posting on social networks to sharing via private sites — comes a natural concern about controlling content,” said Jeffrey Housenbold, president and CEO of Shutterfly. “Shutterfly Share sites not only offer the option of easy password protection, but they offer settings to allow approved visitors to add, remove or comment on photos; giving consumers more freedom to control which photos appear openly online and which are safely displayed in a secure location.”

To help consumers share their memories safely and effectively, Shutterfly offers the following photo sharing tips:

• Share with care. Remember that openly posting old photos from high school may be fun for you, but embarrassing for others.
• Know your audience. Be mindful of your privacy settings when you post photos.
• Share often, but share wisely. 46 percent of survey respondents were bothered by people sharing too many photos at one time. Select the images that most vividly tell your story.
• Think before you post. These days, many sites downsample your images or keep your content after you’ve deleted your account. Since family photos are the leading type of photos shared (over those of friends, weddings, pets, babies and travel), choose wisely before posting precious memories.

Hundreds of millions of photos are securely shared on Shutterfly.com each year. Shutterfly offers a variety of solutions to help customers easily save, store and share their photos online and in person:

• Shutterfly can digitally scan and add old pictures directly to customer accounts where they can be shared securely on Share sites.
• Shutterfly Share sites offer easy to use settings that give users full control of who is able to view photos.
• At Shutterfly, customers own the rights to their high resolution images and content and their information is never disclosed without their knowledge.

650,000* Share sites and growing, Shutterfly Share sites are a great way to post photos for password-protected or open viewing by friends and family (site “owners” select their privacy settings upon creation). With guided prompts and easy to follow directions, Shutterfly Share sites are simple to create and update. Customizable settings allow site owners to add, remove or notify members when content is added to the site. As with all information on Shutterfly.com, customer images are safe and secure.

The results contained in this release are based on telephone interviews conducted of 1,004 adults 18 years of age and older from February 20-22, 2009 by GfK Custom Research North America. A total of 1,004 interviews were conducted among 480 male adults and 524 female adults. The margin of error is +/-3 percentage points and is higher for subgroups.

For more information on Shutterfly Share sites, visit www.shutterfly.com/share.

*based on 2008 earnings report

About Shutterfly

Founded in 1999, Shutterfly, Inc. is an Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service. Shutterfly provides high quality products and world class services that make it easy, convenient and fun for consumers to preserve their digital photos in a creative and thoughtful manner. Shutterfly’s flagship product is its award-winning Photo Book line, which helps consumers celebrate memories and tell their stories in professionally bound coffee table books. More information about Shutterfly (NASDAQ:SFLY) is available at www.shutterfly.com. Shutterfly and Shutterfly.com are trademarks of Shutterfly, Inc.

SOURCE: Shutterfly, Inc.

Shutterfly, Inc.
Media Relations:
Gretchen Sloan, 650-610-5276
gsloan@shutterfly.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009