# Selfie

> Selfie, coined by Nathan Hope in 2002, is a self-portrait photograph taken with a smartphone and shared on social media, becoming Oxford's Word of the Year in 2013.

The selfie is a self-portrait photograph taken with a handheld camera or smartphone, typically shared on social media. Australian Nathan Hope wrote the first known use of the word on an internet forum in September 2002[1], and the practice spread through Flickr, MySpace, and Instagram before Oxford Dictionaries named "selfie" the Word of the Year in 2013[6]. From bathroom mirror shots to celebrity Instagram posts to the Mars Curiosity rover's self-portrait on Mars, the selfie became the defining photographic act of the smartphone era.

## Origin
The word "selfie" first appeared in written form on September 13, 2002, on an Australian internet forum run by Karl Kruszelnicki. A user named Nathan Hope posted about falling on his face at a friend's 21st birthday party, writing: "And sorry about the focus, it was a selfie." Hope later clarified that the term was already "common slang at the time" in Australia, not something he invented[1].

Self-portrait photography predates the word by over 160 years. Robert Cornelius took a daguerreotype of himself in 1839 by uncovering his camera's lens, running into frame, and holding still during the long exposure. He recorded on the back: "The first light picture ever taken. 1839"[6].

Modern selfie culture also drew from 1990s Japanese kawaii (cute) culture, where self-photography was a major preoccupation among schoolgirls. Purikura (print club) photo sticker booths, conceived in 1994 by Sasaki Miho and developed by Atlus and Sega, let users take decorated self-portraits in arcades[1]. On English-language internet platforms, the alternate spelling "selfy" appeared on Flickr as early as 2004 to tag self-taken portraits, and the first Urban Dictionary definition for "selfy" went up on April 22, 2005[5].

- **Platform:** Australian internet forum (first written use), Flickr / MySpace (early spread)
- **Creator:** Nathan Hope (first known written use)
- **Date:** 2002

## Overview
A selfie is a photograph someone takes of themselves, usually with a phone camera held at arm's length or pointed at a mirror. The subject holds or controls the camera, which sets a selfie apart from a photo taken by someone else[14]. Front-facing smartphone cameras simplified the process by letting users see themselves on screen in real-time while composing the shot[6].

The practice covers a wide range of styles: the classic arm's-length shot, the bathroom mirror selfie, the "MySpace angle" (camera held high, looking up coyly), and group selfies. They're commonly shared on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter, often tagged with hashtags like #selfie, #me, or #selfportrait[4].

## How It Spread
In late June 2005, the first Flickr group pool called "Selfies" appeared, though it was originally created for fans of the band Self and later became a general repository for self-portraits. The first pool dedicated specifically to selfie-style photographs launched in early 2007[5].

The term jumped beyond personal blogging spaces in September 2007, when TMZ used "selfie" to describe actress Rosario Dawson stopping to take a photo with a fan[22]. By July 2009, "Selfie" earned its own Urban Dictionary entry, described as an activity done for MySpace and Facebook[14]. On Tumblr, a parallel tradition took hold: #GPOY (Gratuitous Picture Of Yourself), a tag that started among the platform's early community of young women and expanded to cover any image or GIF a user identified with so strongly it "might as well" be a picture of them[11].

In January 2011, the blog Selfie Magic launched with tutorials on taking good self-portraits and popularized the weekly hashtag #SelfieSaturday[20]. Instagram's explosive growth made selfies even more visible. By early 2013, #me was the third most frequently used hashtag on the platform, with over 90 million self-portraits tagged underneath it[4].

Throughout 2012, selfie coverage hit the mainstream press. The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Gawker, and BuzzFeed all ran features on the trend. TIME placed "Selfie" at number nine on their Top 10 Buzzwords of 2012 list, defining it as "self-portraits, typically made to post on a social networking website"[3]. That September, the Mars Curiosity rover joined in by rotating its camera for a self-portrait on the Martian surface. The Atlantic ran the image under the headline "Mars Curiosity Rover Takes a Selfie," treating the word as common knowledge[10].

## How to Use
The selfie is one of the simplest formats in internet culture. The typical approach:
1. Hold your phone at arm's length with the front-facing camera active, or position yourself in front of a mirror
2. Frame your face (and whatever background or companions you want to include)
3. Take the photo, review, and reshoot as many times as needed
4. Optionally apply a filter, adjust the lighting, or crop
5. Share on social media with relevant hashtags (#selfie, #me, #SelfieSaturday, etc.)

## Cultural Impact
The selfie reshaped how people interact with cameras and with each other online. Before selfies became standard practice, most personal photos were taken by someone else. The selfie gave individuals direct control over their own image, choosing what angle, expression, and context to present to the world[2].

Psychologists studied the effects. Research showed that people who based their self-worth on "public contingencies" like others' approval and physical appearance were more likely to share photos frequently online[2]. On forums like Reddit's r/amiugly, users submitted self-portraits for anonymous feedback from strangers, a practice that would have been nearly impossible before camera phones and social platforms[2].

The format crossed into politics, science, and celebrity culture. President Obama posed for selfies at public events. The Mars Curiosity rover's self-portrait on Mars became front-page news[10]. Celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Rihanna made selfies central to their public personas. Beyoncé built an entire HBO documentary around the form[13].

The selfie also shaped the dating world. OkCupid data revealed that specific selfie styles correlated with dramatically different success rates, with the MySpace angle outperforming every other photo type for women[15]. On Tinder, the tiger selfie trend grew so widespread that New York state passed legislation indirectly targeting the practice[8].

## Fun Facts
- Nathan Hope, who wrote the first known use of "selfie" in 2002, insisted he didn't coin it, saying the word was already "common slang" in Australia[1].
- A selfie stick was patented as early as 1983 by Japanese inventors Ueda Hiroshi and Mima Yujiro. It appeared in a 1995 book of "101 Un-Useless Japanese Inventions" and was dismissed as pointless before later gaining global popularity[1].
- OkCupid's data analysis found that the widely mocked MySpace angle was the most effective photo type for women's dating profiles, outperforming every other style even after removing photos that showed cleavage[15].
- Danielle Bruckman received over 250 selfies from the stranger who ended up with her lost iPhone, including enough detail to know where he worked and that he went on a diet during 2013[18].
- When Paris Hilton claimed she and Britney Spears "invented the selfie" in November 2017, users responded with Robert Cornelius's 1839 self-portrait, shared by the National Galleries of Scotland[5].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is a selfie?
A selfie is a self-portrait photograph taken by the subject, typically with a smartphone held at arm's length or positioned in front of a mirror, then shared on social media[14].

### Where did the selfie come from?
The word "selfie" first appeared on an Australian internet forum on September 13, 2002, in a post by Nathan Hope. The practice of photographic self-portraiture dates back to Robert Cornelius's daguerreotype in 1839[6].

### What does "selfie" mean?
It's internet slang for a self-taken photograph, derived from "self" with the Australian diminutive suffix "-ie." The term was already common slang in Australia before spreading globally online[1].

### How do you take a selfie?
Hold your smartphone with the front-facing camera active at arm's length, frame your face on the screen, and snap the photo. Alternatively, use a mirror, a selfie stick, or a timer. The key element is that the subject controls the camera[6].

### Is the selfie still popular?
The selfie is deeply embedded in everyday smartphone use and social media. Oxford Dictionaries named it Word of the Year in 2013[6], and the practice is now so routine that it functions less as a trend and more as a standard form of personal photography.

### Who invented the selfie?
No single person invented the selfie. Nathan Hope wrote the first known use of the word in 2002[1], Robert Cornelius took the first photographic self-portrait in 1839[6], and modern selfie culture drew from 1990s Japanese photo booth traditions. Paris Hilton claimed in 2017 that she and Britney Spears "invented the selfie," but users quickly responded with much older examples[5].

### When did "selfie" become the Word of the Year?
Oxford Dictionaries named "selfie" the Word of the Year in November 2013, noting its Australian origin[6].

### What is #GPOY?
#GPOY stands for "Gratuitous Picture Of Yourself," a Tumblr tag that predated the mainstream selfie boom. It started as a label for literal self-portraits but evolved to include any image or GIF a user strongly identified with[11].

### What was the tiger selfie trend?
In 2014, men on dating apps like Tinder began posing with tigers in their profile photos. The trend was widespread enough to inspire dedicated Tumblr blogs and New York state legislation banning direct contact with big cats at traveling shows[8].

### What is National Selfie Day?
National Selfie Day is celebrated on June 21. It was launched in 2014 by DJ Rick McNeely from the Fishbowl Radio Network in Arlington, Texas[21].

### Did Paris Hilton really invent the selfie?
No. In a 2017 W magazine profile, Hilton said "If a beeper had a camera, I would have taken a selfie with it"[7]. She later tweeted a 2007 photo with Britney Spears claiming they "invented the selfie," but the practice predates both of them by over a century[5].

### What did psychologists say about selfies?
Dr. Andrea Letamendi of UCLA noted that social media selfie culture "strengthened the impact that others have on our self-value." Dr. Pamela Rutledge argued that social comparison through selfies was normal human behavior, only problematic when someone "fixates or over-compares to their detriment"[2].

### What was the My Cloud Pal selfie project?
After losing her iPhone on New Year's Eve 2012, San Francisco resident Danielle Bruckman discovered that a mustachioed stranger's selfies were syncing to her iCloud. She recreated his photos on a Tumblr called "My Cloud Pal," and the project went viral in late 2013[9].

## References
1. [The Social Psychology of the Selfie | Mashable](<https://mashable.com/archive/social-media-and-the-selfie>)
2. [One Direction Made a Selfie ‘One Way or Another’ Video for Charity](<https://www.vulture.com/2013/02/one-direction-made-a-selfie-video-for-charity.html>)
3. [What Is a Selfie? | CitizenSide](<https://citizenside.com/technology/what-is-a-selfie/>)
4. [Selfie - Know Your Meme](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/selfie>)
5. [Selfie](<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selfie>)
6. [Selfie - Urban Dictionary](<https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Selfie>)
7. [Self-portrait](<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-portrait>)
8. [Self (band)](<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_%28band%29>)
9. [Self (band) - Wikipedia](<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_(band)>)
10. [Urban Dictionary: selfies](<https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=selfies>)
11. [Urban Dictionary: GPOYW](<https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=GPOYW>)
12. [Urban Dictionary: GPOY](<https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=GPOY>)
13. [Urban Dictionary: Ussie](<https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Ussie>)
14. [Beyoncé's Selfie Documentary, By the Numbers](<https://www.thecut.com/2013/02/beyoncs-selfie-documentary-by-the-numbers.html>)
15. [selfy | Tumblr](<https://www.tumblr.com/search/selfy>)
16. [The Social Psychology of the Selfie | Mashable](<https://mashable.com/2013/02/15/social-media-and-the-selfie/>)
17. [Selfie Magic](<https://web.archive.org/web/20110215121822/http://selfiemagic.com/>)
18. [#Me: Instagram Narcissism And The Scourge Of The Selfie](<https://readwrite.com/2013/01/31/instagram-selfies-narcissism/>)
19. [Selfie | News and Trends | TIME.com](<https://newsfeed.time.com/2012/12/04/top-10-news-lists/slide/selfie/>)
20. [My Cloud Pal](<https://mycloudpal.tumblr.com/>)
21. [#GPOY Actually Isn't Gratuitous At All](<https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/soniasaraiya/gpoy-actually-isnt-gratuitous-at-all>)
22. [Mars Curiosity Rover Takes a Selfie - The Atlantic](<https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/09/mars-curiosity-rover-takes-a-selfie/262181/>)
23. [The 4 Big Myths of Profile Pictures «  OkTrends](<https://web.archive.org/web/20100821055102/http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/the-4-big-myths-of-profile-pictures/>)
24. [Woman Spends a Year Recreating Selfies Taken on Lost iPhone | Mashable](<https://mashable.com/2013/12/30/my-cloud-pal-selfies-tumblr/>)
25. [Selfie: Danielle Bruckman lost iPhone parodies moustachioed-selfies taken by 'eccentric thief who stole it' | Daily Mail Online](<https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2531669/Danielle-Bruckman-lost-iPhone-parodies-moustachioed-selfies-taken-eccentric-thief-stole-it.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490>)
26. [Tinder Guys With Tigers](<https://tinderguyswithtigers.tumblr.com/>)
27. [Why selfies with tigers may soon be illegal in New York | New York Post](<https://nypost.com/2014/06/21/new-law-banning-tiger-photo-ops-could-cramp-tinder-guys-style/>)
28. [Tiger Selfie Ban NYC Tinder](<https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2014/06/70066/new-york-bans-tiger-selfies>)
29. [No, New York Is Not Banning Tiger Selfies on Tinder | Mashable](<https://mashable.com/2014/06/25/tiger-selfies/>)
30. [Paris Hilton Invented Everything You’re Doing in 2017, and She Knows It](<https://www.wmagazine.com/story/paris-hilton-interview>)
31. [Stephen Colbert Mourns the Imminent Outlawing of the Tiger Selfie](<https://www.vulture.com/2014/06/stephen-colbert-mourns-the-imminent-outlawing-of-the-tiger-selfie.html>)
32. [National Selfie Day](<http://nationalselfieday.net/>)
33. [The Most Important People in Business | Observer](<https://betabeat.com/2013/01/the-selfie-goes-to-washington-malia-sasha-michelle-obama-internet-face/>)
34. [Rihanna's Tips for Taking the Perfect Instagram Selfie - Business Insider](<https://www.businessinsider.com/rihannas-tips-for-taking-the-perfect-instagram-selfie-2013-1>)
35. [Search 'selfie' on DeviantArt - Discover The Largest Online Art Gallery and Community](<https://www.deviantart.com/?q=selfie>)
36. [Rosario Dawson Takes a Selfie](<https://www.tmz.com/2007/09/18/rosario-dawson-takes-a-selfie/>)
37. [This Woman Has Been Re-Creating The Amazing Selfies Of The Guy Who Ended Up With Her Lost iPhone](<https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanhatesthis/this-girl-has-been-recreating-the-amazing-selfies-of-the-guy>)
38. [Entertainment – UPROXX](<https://uproxx.com/hitfix/stephen-colbert-has-something-to-say-about-tiger-selfies/>)
39. [Selfies Are Dead, It's All About the 'Usie' Now - Business Insider](<https://www.businessinsider.com/selfies-are-dead-its-all-about-the-usie-now-2014-1>)
40. [Text Slang - Chat Acronyms - IM Chat - InternetSlang.com](<https://www.internetslang.com/SELFIE-meaning-definition.asp>)

---
Source: https://meme.com/memes/selfie
Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library