Selfies in Transition: From Mass Media to "My Media"

The selfie – word of the year 2013 – as a social marker: between identity and performance, a reflection on the dawn of virtual avatars for everyone

Tuesday night on Earth: a deep dive into Selfies, far from trivial, heralding the future. And welcome to all new subscribers!

Named the Word of the Year in 2013 by Oxford Dictionaries, the selfie has become a cultural emblem of an era defined by the rise of social media. A decade later, it has significantly evolved, taking on more complex forms and shedding light on the intricate dynamics of our digital habits and visual identities.

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From Immediacy to Staging: The Selfie as a Mini-Series

In its early days, the selfie was a spontaneous act: click, filter, post. It was an instant, a moment captured with no greater ambition than to quickly share an image of oneself. Instagram, with its static feed and basic editing tools, epitomized this visual immediacy. By 2014, the platform boasted 79 million photos tagged #selfie for 200 million users, reflecting the frenzy for digital self-portraits.

However, the introduction of Instagram Stories in 2016 transformed this raw format. The selfie was no longer just a standalone image but became part of a visual narrative. Stories created a framework where selfies could unfold as sequences, complementing each other to form "mini-series" of daily life: a morning at the café, a workout session, or preparing dinner with friends.

Leeloo from @dressingleeloo: Serializing Selfies Into a Larger Narrative

Influencers have leveraged this evolution to transform personal moments into cohesive digital universes. A selfie, in this context, becomes a visual jingle, a recurring motif that punctuates their content. The accompanying captions, often casual yet calculated, serve as chronicles, while aspirational interludes (landscapes, luxury items) act as musical intermissions.

We are no longer dealing with raw and spontaneous selfies. What we see today resembles carefully curated media programming, where every post contributes to building a cohesive digital identity: a perfectly crafted online persona.

From Instagram to TikTok: From Evocative Power to Explicit Performance

The selfie’s cultural zenith coincided with the launch of Instagram Stories in 2016. Yet, the numbers suggest a plateau. While it took just four years to reach 79 million #selfie posts in 2014, Instagram now reports approximately 500 million #selfie posts for 2 billion active users. What was once a symbol of creativity and connection has become a commodity, seamlessly integrated into everyday digital routines.

TikTok, however, has redefined the rules. If Instagram was a visual gallery where the selfie evoked emotion or a moment, TikTok encourages users to perform their daily lives. TikTok videos don’t just capture a face or vibe; they are stages where every detail is choreographed and edited to hold viewers’ attention.

Users play with explicit codes: tutorials, challenges, dynamic transitions, and calibrated poses designed for maximum impact. Here, the selfie is no longer just a self-portrait; it becomes a component of an audiovisual narrative, embedded in a far more complex framework.

Creators like Charli D’Amelio (with 1.7 billion cumulative "likes" on her TikToks) illustrate how every pose, smile, or movement can become a massive source of inspiration. Hashtags like #cuteselfie no longer refer merely to a pose but to a performative attitude in front of the camera, emulated and replicated by millions of users.

A Social Affordance: From “Mass Media” to “My Media”

Selfies, and social media more broadly, have redefined the mechanisms of image production and consumption. Where citizens once turned to mass media—newspapers, television channels—to access curated content, they now gravitate toward what Caroline Nourry calls “my media”: individual or community-driven accounts that reflect personal tastes, values, and affinities.

This shift from "mass" to "my" also redefines the selfie’s role. It is no longer just an image of oneself but a social affordance—“a characteristic of an object or environment that suggests its use or practice.” In simple terms, it’s a tool to insert oneself into broader digital conversations.

On TikTok, for example, selfies become entry points for trends, challenges, or community movements. They enable the construction of a collective identity—political even—while preserving individual expression. The selfie, in this context, is a device to wield.

The Virtual Avatar: The Next Frontier?

The selfie can no longer be discussed without delving into the rise of virtual avatars, a practice already deeply rooted in Asia. These avatars provide social media users with a new way to express identity immersively, without the need for traditional photos or videos. Based on sophisticated analyses of existing selfies and individual expression, virtual avatars combine the best of both worlds:

• Immediacy: They can be accessed or activated by followers on demand.

• Immersion: They operate in virtual spaces where interactions and connections multiply.

By breaking free from real-world constraints, virtual avatars can extend and even intensify parasocial relationships, those emotional bonds that audiences form with digital personas.

The question remains: how far can automation and human-machine symbiosis go while preserving a semblance of authenticity in these new digital relationships? The challenge lies in this tension between hyperrealism and artifice, between sincere self-expression and the carefully programmed construction of a digital identity and digital liveness.

The weak signal of the week: Calm silence

Spotted by

Kéliane Martenon

, the meditation app Calm purchased a 30-second ad spot on U.S. election night. Yet another example that creating silence has become essential.

Amazing links

• The real impact of social networks on US elections (The Conversation)

• A very disturbing portrait of Jacky Dejo, “child influencer” mostly followed by…men (The New York Times)

Have a great week! This newsletter is written with love, passion, and (green) tea.

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My book “Alive In Social Media” is available on Amazon.