Selfies: Grist For The Social Media Mill

Selfies are the new 'self-portrait' - have you heard? They're quick and easy, extended arm shots of the star of the genre - you! Not well thought out but popular nonetheless, selfies immortalize the moment. The majority of selfies are good times, of the moment, sometimes inebriated, moments. The digital files will typically live on your mobile device, that is unless you take the time to transfer the file onto a storage device other than that you keep in you back pocket.

Do selfies have value? They do to the millions of Facebook users. Selfies are visual currency for any social media platform, where once snapped, the image goes along its happy, sharable way onto the Internet via Tumblr, Instagram or other platform of choice.

Selfies are autobiographical memes of sorts. They provide fun at the taker's own expense. They can be compared to snapshot photography. The snapshot genre is meant to be a recording of the time and place of a vacation spot or family gathering. Selfies take that idea, of a timestamp, and simply is applied to oneself. The difference between the two is that snapshot mostly shows the landscape, and selfies, show the self as landscape.

Of the two I prefer landscape. I like to see a place I've never been from the point of view of the photographer. If I were to visit that place, chances of me taking the same photo are slim. The time of day and weather conditions would have to be identical and even if they were, how can my image be similar to one before?

Selfies cannot be duplicated for obvious reasons. No two people are alike. I prefer self-portraits over selfies because they seem to contain a higher level of concept than just a 'snap' of a mobile device.

Selfies have become increasingly popular due to the proliferation of digital technologies. See the following article by Casey N. Cep on how that came to pass: http://tinyurl.com/mkfnpep

Do you find value in selfies?