Oxford Dictionary defines ‘Selfie’ as “a photo of yourself that you take, typically with a smartphone or a webcam, and usually put on a social networking site”. Specifically the last part of that definition got us thinking, is this definition the same for everyone?
We had to investigate, so we took to the streets of Valletta to ask people of different ages what they thought about the Selfie Phenomenon that 21st Century technology has created. These are some of the responses we got…
We decided to have a look at how people traditionally communicated versus how they do now with the use of social media.
Traditional Communication Model
In a two-step flow model, media messages are not necessarily directly received by the audience, but filter down through opinion leaders. This implies that media organizations may not have direct influence on what information people receive, but instead have indirect influence through gatekeepers.
Social Media Communication Model
The communication model for social media has tended to be conceptualized as a network of platforms and users. Users communicate with each other both directly and through platforms, and the content of those platforms is itself produced by a number of other users. Information does not “flow” in one direction from sender to receiver. Rather, everyone is potentially a source, and every- one is potentially a receiver.
We noted some key differences between the two Communication Models:
- Audience is active not passive
- Audience is narrower- the message is crafted with a particular public (namely, your friends) in mind
- With online communication it may be possible for the audience to have more ownership or control over messages and channels because the costs for producing and sharing them are lower
- The ownership of channels and the means of production for communication gives one power
This all links to Selfies since the way we interact online has changed. One of the people interviewed in our Vox Pop said that they post selfies “to go with the trend”. By this we can understand that maybe nowadays the reason to share photos is not to address one public, but to aim to speak to a mass volume of people and generate a larger following on social media.
Humphreys, A. (2016). Social media. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.16–26.
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This is a project for Study Unit MCS3953, University of Malta.