Sociological Research on Selfies

Selfies have mostly become an element of young adults' use of social networking sites. Selfies have evolved into works of public art that carry messages negotiated and constructed by those who generate them, as was mentioned in the opening to this article. Selfies affect not only the persons who take them but also the audience that views them. Even within the same culture, the perspective and the individuals who interpret the message might alter the significance that a selfie carries. Notably, when examining these selfies, the subject of race and gender is crucial to comprehending and researching the message being sent.
William investigates the subject of selfies in this piece. He goes ahead to say that these selfies are used as a universal instrument which can be employed in conveying and consuming sex and ethnic identities. A study was conducted which reflected on the experiences about consuming and producing selfies in Texas and New York. They interviewed 40 participants who were mainly sourced through university twitter pages with their key focus being on the individual experiences of taking selfies and the consumption and production of the same. They sent the participants direct message function saying “You are being asked to take part in a study regarding Twitter culture. You may also be asked about your Facebook and Instagram usage.” (William and Marquez 1776), some people, however, followed the page despite them not being students therefor data collection was an involvement of scholars, employed and the unemployed individuals plus the professionals. These Interviews lasted between 15 and 45 minutes.

They also based on the internet research team known as ‟Pew-research internet project findings on social media users 2012”(1770) where under this project user between the ages of 18-29 years were considered, the emphasis was put on the urban areas than in rural areas. They pointed out that the urban users were more regular with social media usage. The respondents were Asian (3), Black or African American (17), Latino and Hispanic (3) and White (14), they as well formulated their age coverage of 18–32 years. They, however, had their expectations as regards to the response from the participants but to the contrary, they obtained very divergent views and analysis of the viewpoints expected. For example, they expected the Black and Latino Participants to be more affirmative in relation to selfies and the white participants would be less approving of the selfies. However, this played out to the contrary

Participants were questioned about their age, race, and class. Some were not able to answer following the uncertainties of their class positions, others just declined. Questions like ‟when do you take selfies”? ‟why do you take selfies”? ‟how do you feel when someone likes your selfie pictures”?(1785) Were asked, and a few participants asked about how they feel when male or female takes a selfie? The audios were recorded and later on transcribed verbatim. With the help of the grounded theory approach, the data was interpreted and coded after transcription. Also, the authors engaged the contemporary sociological theory to observe ways in which ethnicity and gender might incorporate with conspicuous presumption amongst millennials who consume and produce selfies

The strength of this method lies in the questions posed which were partly identified by the participant given that fact that they too were actively involved. The semi-structured questions are practical and more appealing to the respondents. Therefore it’s a more engaging mode of Collecting Data. It made it easy for the participants to relate to the questions put to them, also with this method of collecting data that the author employed, there are high chances of getting more detailed information which can be sourced from many people within a short period and in a reasonably cost-effective way. Its strength also lies in the method the author used which enabled the respondents, who preferred anonymity to freely express themselves without the fear of their identity being revealed. Notably, the method the author employed to analyze the data was adequate in the sense that that author was able to collect and analyze data at the same time hence time-saving and more accuracy.

The sample space of individuals used was diminutive in relation to the usage of the selfie on social media, and therefore this could, in my opinion, have restricted the results of analysis of data collected by the author. The author does not provide the rationale for the use of the particular demographic areas, where he used New York and Texas depending on the subject matter at hand and intermeddling of the situation as earlier referred to the whole article. The issues covered hereunder could have suitably matched the topic had that been explained. In the current research, it’s under physical subjection, where it’s different to have an accurate analysis of data since some Individual may not feel the same way offering their opinions in a verbatim manner thus limiting the admissibility of the results of research. There was lack of comparison of the respondent's answers and their actual posting behavior; this is because their accounts of an on record posts and likes on the related matter were not included in the research. Therefore, they did not make it an integral part of their response to the answers. Maybe they could not match their verbatim expression done in the research. Therefore, this is a limitation in a curtailing accuracy of the results.



William concluded that Latino and Black men and women have different reasons for taking selfies. About race, William says the study was initially about selfie presumption being ‟an act of self-defense,”(William and Maerquez 1780 ) but he says it lacks contrast between respondent’s answers with the simple manners of posting. William says that its wrong to live on assumptions that blacks talk about selfies posted by their fellow blacks only and same too applies to whites. To comprehend the reasons behind these group’s posting selfies, William suggests that, a future study should be carried out. This study will help in analyzing the attitudes about selfies posted by the same race, and also the connection between the performance of gender and sexuality regulation to widen our scope of understanding on how these people are stigmatized on social media platforms because few of the respondents identified themselves as gay. The conclusions were adequately supported because what they thought would be the response turned out to be not, so it is not right to just lie on assumptions.

What I found Interesting is the way these respondents were approached on social media, I find it surprising that these participants responded to messages sent to them on social media, disregarding all these cyber-crimes we read about on a daily. Also, their responses were hilarious and sarcastic; they think selfies are ‟ok for girls.” One participant was asked ‟about how many selfies do you currently have posted on all your social media platforms?”, @cafeWM:‟ Oh gosh. I’ll like . . . Sometimes take it if . . . I like, get a haircut or something or, like, do something fun with my hair. So like, I don’t know a number but like, not a lot. . . . About 10 to 20. (1779). I found this hilarious



Works cited



Williams, A. and B. Marquez (2015) “The lonely selfie king: Selfies and the conspicuous prosumption of Gender and Race in International Journal of Communication 9: 1775– 1787.