Selfie – A new phenomena, a trend sweeping the world. Popular across all ages.

The Wikipedia defines it as a type of self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a hand-held camera. It is often linked with the social networking website such as Instagram.

This six letter word is a rage now. Zillions of selfies are uploaded, shared and circulated on social media channels every passing day. Being a social media professional, I come across this so much that it makes me wonder the reason for its popularity. What’s making it so infectious?

The answer was – love for self expression!!

Social media has provided people yet another way of expressing their moods, behaviors, small joys and sorrows in a visually appealing way. Instead of uploading a textual status update, millennial can simply upload a photograph depicting their current mood, add #selfie tag and share it on their social networking sites. A simple and more outgoing way to communicate!

The global appeal of selfies has come from its ease of creation and sharing. Also the kind of control they provide an individual over how he/she can self-photograph and present themselves. It is a means of communicating and connecting with others.

As I was researching for this blog, I also came across few self-explanatory tweets about selfies. Few of them are as follows –

Secret Formula: more #selfies, more #followers. PS: for girls only! 🙂

#Selfies are well and truly in

Low self esteem and #selfies is a dangerous combo.

So apparently #selfies are also a trend with the royal families

Speaking about the royals, Oscars this year was more known for Ellen’s selfie rather than the Red Carpet entries and awards buzz. This image spoke a lot about how one can easily enhance one’s personal brand and I feel Ellen made the best possible use of selfies for her brand.

Personal branding is all about expressing your brand while maintaining the ‘person’ behind it.

Expressing your work, routine, moods, talent and personality through selfies will personify your brand and help the audience to relate to you in a more friendly and humane way. Instead of a formal photo with a professional photographer and sophisticated lenses, Selfies are raw! They give the audience a reality check making them trust you and be loyal to your brand. Without the professional angle, selfies portray authenticity and humbleness with a “within reach” feel about the brand thus adding more credibility and respect in the minds of audience towards the brand.

Another reason for the immense popularity of Ellen’s selfie is she portrayed to the whole world that her fame and the celebrity status doesn’t make her any less human. Just like any other individual even she is carried away by the selfie storm and loves taking selfies with her friends.

Exploring and analyzing oneself is what people love to do both on Social Media and in real life. Experiments add variety and newness to the life. The thought that you can create an online profile and project the real you is exciting. Selfies provide you the ability to do that.

Having a personal image, a brand online is the need of the hour. Leveraging or diminishing its potential lies in our hands.

Making the best use of selfies, by expressing your real self (lies, faking and frauds are so passé) one can definitely manage as well as enhance his or her own brand according to one’s reputation.

So tell me, are your Selfie crazy? How do you use those selfies to enhance your personal image? Do let me know your views in the comments below.