Why Should an Election Candidate Take (and Share) Selfies?
At first glance, there is little difference between an ordinary photo and a selfie. However, the differences are pretty significant due to the psychological mechanisms behind selfies. Selfies communicate many things that ordinary photos cannot. This unique communicative ability of selfies is due to their hidden messages. In a regular photo, an unseen photographer is behind the camera, while the subject is the only visible part of the image. The photographer has the power to decide how the image will look. They frame the shot and determine the angle and the moment of capture. The photographer is the subject, and the person in the photo is the object. A selfie changes this dynamic. In a selfie, both the photographer and the subject are present within the frame. The person taking the selfie has complete control over how the image turns out. This means that every decision behind taking and sharing the selfie carries an implicit message: why the phot...
