Exploring the Distance, Location, and Style of “Selfies” with the Self-Pano Mobile Application

Abstract

Taking self-portraits, also known as “selfies”, has become one of the biggest activities among the social media users. The advances in camera technologies and online services in mobile phones have given rise to far greater opportunities for mobile posting and sharing. The selfie is often used as a user’s profile picture in social media sites. The selfie is not just a photographic portrait of the taker; an equally important aspect of the selfie is the background image, which often includes a scene of special interest or a group of friends: as so-called “wefie”. With the popularity of social media sites continuing to grow rapidly, mobile devices have become an almost real-time tool for building and maintaining relationships with distant family and friends through the use of selfies and other postings. Self-Pano, is a mobile application developed to maximize the information content of a selfie. This study analyzes the selfie images collected with Self-Pano Apps: the distance, location and style of selfies were explored. The outcome of this project can be used as the reference for future selfie stick development.