Selfie marketing-exploration of the user profile

The Selfie is taking a photo of yourself, sharing it on social networks, waiting for feedback, rinse and repeat. The proliferation of mobile phone technology combined with the popularity of social media applications has made ‘selfie’ as Word Of the Year, 2013. People who take Selfies can be grouped into two categories: the Chronic Abuser or the Occasional Poster. Chronic Abusers take Selfies multiple times a day. The Occasional Poster, meanwhile, tends to only snap a Selfie when the occasion presents itself to be favorable. The PEW Research Centre reported that 91% of teenagers have taken ‘Selfie’, which might suggest a divided perspective between generations. A new disorder has been identified by APA (American Psychiatric Association) due to selfie among the selfie addicts known as “Selfitis”. Few reports have mentioned that the morale of people has changed because of selfie. Selfie, a new medium of self-expression and self-representation is usually posted in social media like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. These environment of social media influences a person’s mood and attitude. This study analyses such influences made by selfie and the positive and negative impacts created by it. It examines the business opportunities introduced by selfie in various sectors. This selfie culture has brought incredible creativity in taking photographs by bringing out new poses and unimaginable location choices from people. It has also brought innovations in mobile applications and technological advancement in front camera. Selfie also accounts for the emergence of safe-selfie campaigns, rehab and counseling centers due to its negative impacts. This study answers the major two questions, why are selfies taken and how do brand capitalize this trend.