3.0 The characteristics of selfie among different culture

What are the differences in selfie characteristics in different cultures? What are the information that can be derived by designers to aid their work?

 The characteristics of selfie among different countries/ culture/ generation/ gender:


1) From many mobile phone applications introduced by China, I realized Chinese tend to favour big eyes, slim jawline, smooth and fair skin. These selfie applications are normally combined with photo editing functions. It is a common feature in famous Chinese applications like Meitu, Camera 360 and Pitu to have liquify, eye enlarging, skin whitening functions. Now China's social networks are buzzing about Primo, a Japanese app that claims to undo edited selfies to reveal what people really look like. Perhaps people are sick of being deceived by 'unreal' selfies anymore. Besides mobile phone applications, there is one gadget that has garnered rave reviews in Asia- selfie camera. Japanese company Casio is particularly famous for its TR series. This kind of camera exceeds what normal digital cameras do, the lens, frame and monitor can be rotated, allowing various shooting angles. They are also equipped with make up mode for enhancing skin quality and tone, high resolution to capture images so detailed that every eyelash and hair of the subject can be seen. High-brightness LED light is included too, an alternative for taking photos under low-light or back light conditions. The light helps to bring out the beauty of the eyes in selfies.

 

(Casio, 2014) 

This video below is about Xiaxue, a famous Singaporaean blogger, enthusing over her selfie camera. (3.37-4.30)

 

(Clicknetwork, 2015)

2) Another research that was conducted by a group of German researchers indicated that selfies were more gendered compared to advertisements. 500 random selfies with hashtag #selfie were collected over Instagram, half of men and half of women. These photos are then compared to German magazine cover such as Cosmo and Men’s Health. Results are as shown in picture below:

 

Selfies in the imbalance and loss of control category exhibited more gender-stereotypical behavior among all categories. Imbalance here refers to turning head to one side, and sorority squat- one or more people slightly bending their knees and leaning on their calves with their arms regardless of whether or not people are behind them in the photo. While loss of control in the research refers to an exaggerated display of emotion like laughing very happily or hugging a friend tightly. Men are typically seen posing in a more controlled manner. (Mayyasi, A 2015)

3) In Selfiecity, a project that analyzes 3,200 selfies from 5 cities- Berlin, New York, Moscow, Bangkok & Sao Paulo, discovered that women more often look up at the camera (men look down) and have more exaggerated poses and facial expressions. Women take the majority (65%) of selfies among teenagers and people aged twenty something. But among older individuals, men take more selfies, which mirrors Hollywood’s obsession with young women and older men. (Selfiecity, 2014)



Reference:

Doland, A. (2015). Is Asia Setting the Trends on Selfies?. AdvertisingAge, [online]. Available at: http://adage.com/article/global-news/asia-world-s-trend-setter-selfies/296191/ [Accessed 18 Jan. 2016.] 

Casio, (2014). Casio Releases Next-Generation EXILIM TR Camera Made Especially for Capturing Stunning Self-Portrait. [online] Available at: http://www.casio-intl.com/asia-mea/en/news/2014/tr50/ [Accessed 18 Jan. 2016.] 

Clicknetwork. (2015). Things I Cant Live Without - Xiaxue's Guide To Life: EP161 [Video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6tS9En5Y0o [Accessed 18 Jan. 2016.] 

Mayyasi, A. (2015). The Selfie: A Window into our Sexist Souls. Priceconomics [online]. Available at: http://priceonomics.com/the-selfie-a-window-into-our-sexist-souls/ [Accessed 18 Jan. 2016.] 

Selfiecity. (2014). Investigating the style of self-portraits (selfies) in five cities across the world. [online] Available at: http://selfiecity.net/ [Accessed 18 Jan. 2016.]