British women spend a month taking - 'Selfies' & the Selfie specialist who earns ...

The sweetest sound is ‘hearing one’s own name’ and most appealing is ‘one’s own face’  (or that of a sweetheart !!) Many are  so fond of photos ~ would admire thyself on a photo and happily pose for one… !! – most post their photos on  social network sites like Facebook, Instagram, Myspace and the like ~ and expect that friends and dear comment on that to their liking…..  the word  ‘Selfie’, a term discussed by photographer Jim Krause in 2005, has gained so much of prominence.    Selfie - typically "an amateurish, flash-blinded self-portrait.

I have posted earlier on Selfies and on what was dubbed as ‘sickest selfie’ of all times by the Newyork Post.  It was of a  lady  taking a photo of herself even as a suicide drama is underway on the Brooklyn bridge.   Much before that there was an International selfie that was decried.    It was a State funeral of Nelson Mandela ~ World leaders British David Cameron took part in that selfie with Barack Obama and Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt. 

If you ever had any indignation in posting ‘selfie’ read this interesting report in Daily Mail…… titled ‘British women spend a  month of their lives taking selfies... but do you opt for the duck face or the smize to perfect yours?’  ………. It beat 'twerking' to be crowned word of the year by editors of the Oxford English Dictionary and it seems that the power of the selfie shows no sign of abating thanks to image conscious Brits. A new study reveals that Brits are so selfie obsessed that the average woman spends an entire month of her life capturing her own face.  It  isn't a case of 'I woke up like this', with the study revealing that women spend a total of 753 hours taking, deleting, retaking and touching up their social media selfies to look picture perfect.

The study revealed the top five tricks women use to make sure they look their best in their selfies are: using soft mood lighting (51 per cent); shooting from a downward angle (47 per cent); adopting a slimming body pose (46 per cent); using smartphone filters (37 per cent) and ‘smizing’ - a term coined by Tyra Banks that means smiling with our eyes (29 per cent).  The ladies of Cardiff favour using filters, 20 per cent of Southampton women love the pouty ‘duck face’, often adopted by Kim Kardashian, and 63 per cent of Newcastle women use flattering lighting in their snaps. The selfie capital of the UK was revealed as Belfast, where over 84 per cent of respondents take at least one per week. 

~ and some climb the ladder of success through ‘Selfie’ too as portrayed in another report of Daily Mail.  Woman, 38, so selfie-obsessed that she spent £9k on cosmetic surgery  and now helps social media stars make £120,000 a  month  promoting big brands through their online snaps. Triana Lavey had a chin implant, nose job, cheek-defining fat grafts and Botox ~ now she makes a living help others to make money using selfies.  

Triana Lavey, 38, makes her clients thousands by including other company's products in their social media presence. In a bid to take better selfies and look like a supermodel she had a chin implant, nose job and cheek-defining fat grafts.  Clients of the company she works for, uFluencer, can earn between £60,000 and £120,000 a month by including big-name brands in their selfies.  The people she works with include young singers who have huge YouTube followings among teens such as That's Heart, Brandon Berg, Becca Lamin and ItsJudyTime, who are all listed on the company's website. The 'Ufluencers', as the company cites them on its website, also include Alphacat, who has 3.5m followers, and ItsJudyTime and Sam Pottorff, who have both amassed over 3m followers.

Triana has used her knowledge to help others build online followers - with the larger their followings, the more companies pay to feature in the selfies they post.  Advertisers pay large amounts of money to play a part in their social media presence - especially if the product is relevant to that age group. Triana, from Los Angeles in California, USA, revealed all of her clients are either already well versed in - or coached - how to pose for the perfect selfie. She believes the ideal pose is for the picture to look fun and organic with their personality resonating through the image - all while looking interested in the product they are paid to promote.

To conclude with the thought of Thiruvilayadal  Tharumi, ‘ there is none – they will not give to us’ …  ‘mmmm. we also post so many selfies’’ – why none is listening and why we do not get any attention or money ?

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

30^th May 2014.