Selfies are digital self-portraits produced with support on smartphones and aimed at being published in social networks. Such snapshots are not a private product for private use. In fact, they constitute a new way of self-expression and presentation of oneself for those who take part in the social networks. Furthermore, they are a new and effective way of communication and interaction among individuals through images of themselves, what is made possible by the mobile devices’ technological capabilities. Because of all these features, selfies should be regarded as social photographs. By the same token, the abundant production and the wide-spreading of social photos reveal such practices as capable of highlighting the contours of a regime of subjectivation which is typical of the regular participants of social networks nowadays.
Selfie; Mobile devices; Social networks; Oneself’s presentation; Subjectivity