Go Selfie Yourself!

“Why something, such as the selfie and that has been out there for 7 years now, is so popular today?” This is a question of a friend of mine asked on Facebook the other day…

But what is a selfie?

“A selfie is a type of self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone, and are usually taken in a slightly tilted manner.” – Wikipedia.

“A picture was taken of yourself that is planned to be uploaded to Facebook, Myspace or any other sort of social networking website.” – Urban Dictionary.

That reference to 7 years of existence my friend made is actually not entirely correct. The term was cornered some when in 2005, but Albrecht Dürer and many other painters were at it hundreds of years ago…

Why the attention now?

I actually believe that selfies are part of the users’ growing up in the age of smartphones. Like teenagers in high school, they are expressing themselves and trying to find themselves by experimenting with looks, accessories and others. The number of smartphones available out there is reaching fast 2Bn, and in 2014 other 1Bn users are said to join the dark side of the über-functional mobile army. A learning curve involves many social attitudes mimicking and basically figuring out what engages the circle of friends. And this trend will continue for a while at least until the users get enough of it and move on with their smartphone social lives.

I have been experimenting a bit with selfies, and I have noticed that my followers on Twitter and friends on Facebook find what I see through my lens way more compelling that when my lens is seeing me. However, I have also observed a totally opposite user behaviour among other friends. Well, I am not as handsome and creative as they are, but their selfies do get an enormous amount of likes and comments.

On the other hand, one should not forget that selfies are also an enormous marketing niche when taken and posted by celebrities. Both accessorizing and fashion, in general, are a big thing. The audience is enormous, and selfies are just the right tool to use and push your wearable product. Same goes for beer, actually. It is an opportunity and marketers do take upon them any chance they get.

So, go selfie yourself and tell me how it goes in the comments below!