Community news. The age of the selfie is with us and possibly forever. For the first time in history, regular people have the ability to take a picture of themselves wherever and whenever they want, make themselves look better with filters and built in photo editing tools and then share it with hundreds, maybe thousands of people.
We’ve had the most powerful man in the world, Barack Obama taking selfies with other world leaders.
We’ve had the most powerful man in the world, Barack Obama taking selfies with other world leaders.Photo courtesy www.myfoxboston.com
The holiest man in the world, the Pope has been dived in. Photo courtesy www.businessinsider.com
Our own beloved leader David Cameron has been known to dabble with the founder of Alibaba. Photo courtesy www.businessinsider.com
And if that wasn’t enough iStrategyLabs have developed a ‘Selfie mirror’ that takes your picture and posts a Tweet automatically! Click here to see it in action!
So WHY do people take selfies and why should you the entrepreneur?
Since the very first time we could dial up, the Internet has been a tool of empowered interactivity that has only been limited by the technology behind it.
In the early days of the Internet, we hid behind usernames on forums and bulletin boards. Having an email address connected us to people anywhere in the world for free. Fast-forward to YouTube and the ability to ‘broadcast yourself’ had anyone on his or her digital soapbox singing, dancing, teaching or simply acting the fool.
Even the Royal family (Prince Andrew) have taken the plunge! Courtesy www.firstnews.co.uk
Fast-forward again and enter mobile, apps and high speed Internet. We can now do all of the above and more but this time anywhere at any time to a connected audience of thousands or even millions.
For regular people, the social nature of the networks mean that you’re more likely to get positive feedback when putting up a selfie than a some weirdo telling you that you look stupid. So not only is it empowering for the selfie taker but it also gives the audience a window into the world of you the entrepreneur.
But how? And why would you want to provide a window into your world?
I’ve said this for years (and I’ll say it again); people do business with people they like. The more of ‘you’ is shared with your audience the more likely they’ll get to know you and subsequently like you. Never before have we been able to take the onerous of ‘public relations’ into our own hands – literally (click!).
A selfie taken with most social apps (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter) all come with a location, an activity, a time of day, an expression, a feeling and a bunch of hash tags to describe all the above and more. Wrap this all up and you get context. Collect context over a period of time and you get understanding of the person and if you’re lucky likeability (yes that’s a real word).
Selfies are still a subset of the Internet that fascinate people and therefore garner a lot of interest. So, if you’re building a brand, trying to get some PR or simply want to get people talking then taking the brave (but fun) step into the selfie arena may just be what the doctor ordered.
And with that I’ll leave you for the weekend with #SELFIE (Official Music Video) – The Chainsmokers and over 57,094,664 others who’ve watched the video
Thank me later, have a great weekend.
Julian Hall – The Ultrapreneur 🙂
