AT&T and Yahoo today launched an upgrade of their photo service. The new version is geared toward making it easier for subscribers to share photos over PCs and mobile devices.

AT&T Yahoo Photos will include features such as photo-tagging and online "playlists" of photos that automatically recognize and add tagged photos to online albums.

According to InfoTrends, the total number of online photo service users is expected to grow from 55 million in 2004 to 83 million in 2009. And Nielsen/Net Ratings cites that 62.5 percent of Internet-connected U.S. households now have broadband, a factor that lends to more interactivity with online photos.

A new survey commissioned by AT&T provides feedback on using digital photos with online tools, ideas on digital "photo personalities," ways to share and reasons why people like working with digital photos, among other topics.

The AT&T survey revealed that currently more than one in five respondents already move their digital photos from a camera to their computer to enhance, edit and create their own visual content; however, eight in 10 (80 percent) of survey participants indicated that they would share digital photos with friends and family more often if they had the needed features, tools and know-how. When asked what they would do with online photos if they had additional skills, knowledge and tools, 74 percent of survey respondents aged 18 to 34 said they would save to an online album or create a personal Web site with their photos.

The AT&T survey results also revealed several unique "photo personalities" that people used to describe the way they work with digital photos.

- Personal Paparazzi. Thirteen percent consider themselves to be people who take lots of self-portraits and then share the photos with everyone they can.
- Shoot and Run. Ten percent of respondents classified themselves as digital photographers who store their photos on a portable device, such as a digital music player or cell phone, and show them to friends and family on the go.
- Webmaster of Ceremonies. One in five respondents described themselves as people who not only take digital photos but also store them on a computer, create slide shows, post photos to Web sites or make multimedia movies or DVDs to share their photos with friends and family.
- Lens Cappers. Less than one in five (17 percent) of survey participants classify themselves as people who take digital photos but usually leave them in the camera.
- Underexposed. Thirty-seven percent of those surveyed describe themselves as people who take digital photos and store them on their computers but don't share or know what to do with the pictures.