Selfie-Culture: How the presentation of ourselves changes social media

By venturing to join social media platforms today, some may find themselves caught in a world full of people and their self-portraits. If you think about the definition of a “selfie”, I bet you have duckfaces, athletic (half-naked) bodies or Kim Kardashian's butt in mind. But do selfies really fulfill all our more or less bad expectations of them showing narcissism and vanity?

These propositions definitely need some new perspectives for one to survive and keep a positive mind in a jungle full of people feeding you with their faces and bodies. Precisely, this means to list some new functions and opportunities selfies can offer within the innumerable amount of Social Media platforms we have today. We have to ask ourselves questions about the pictures saying something about new relevant topics in our generation.

Believe it or not, selfies can assume a role in politics. It’s possible that they can create new images of politicians. Have a look at the reputation of Barack Obama, often designated as the most likeable and frankly president America ever had. Of course, this isn’t all about him taking selfies but it does play an important role for his expression towards the society. People empower him by sharing these pictures, convincing their friends about Obama being a good choice. The messages can be spread everywhere - selfies are relevant for our participatory culture, especially in the age of Social Media.

President Obama's selfie with talkshow star Ellen de Generes

 Here’s another fact that selfies are not only used for showing bright teeth and new acquired false lashes. Regard some of them from a different angle: There are young people living in the favelas of Brazil  using selfies as a new form of communication in Social Media. By taking pictures of themselves, they want to show their daily life and issues they’re dealing with. And this isn’t bright at all. Showing violence in their neighborhood, document surroundings and keeping in touch with friends and family to tell them they’re fine. A selfie gets a whole new meaning by now. These pictures are now telling us different stories about the difficulties a lots of people around the world have to handle. Keep on and saying “Hey, we’re still alive over here!” - and not having a filter on them.

Picture taken by authors Freeman and Nema

This can also show us another opportunity for selfies to gain authenticity. Such projects are leading us to a new form of building a community. Nowadays it can be very easy to find others with the same political sentiments via Social Media. Connecting, exchanging of informations and planning together can lead to viral campaigns. Remember the big campaign of people being against the racist communities in the USA when a young black man was shot by a white police officer. With the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter (nearly 4,5 millions of instagram tags), everyone could join the debate and stand against the problem. When selfies are used during a campaign, it can be easier to identify yourself with the activists and to join the campaign.

Instagram member using #BlackLivesMatter

If you still don’t get the upcoming importance of selfies, at least you should take them with humor. You definitely can have fun with selfies! Have fun with your own selfies, use them as a keepsake and especially make fun of selfies from others. Don’t take them too serious. As Joshua Shaw tells us, there are three important reasons why parodies of selfies make us laugh:

“They help us feel superior to others. They display incongruity, unexpectedness and weirdness. They help provide relief in socially tense environments.”

So better make use of his idea and enjoy some time combing through instagram and co.

Making fun of selfies

How can we learn from all that? It’s better to think about all the new perspectives you just got instead of  worrying about your best friend posing in her mirror for a too explicit selfie. Imagine at least one of the good reasons to take one. This goes out to all of you who criticize our new selfie-culture: Maybe it’s just worth a try, having fun while taking pictures of yourselves for a good reason, to share it and to like those from others. Or just let it be.  Don’t compare yourself to Kim Kardashian - be yourself.