User:XIAO BING HUANG/The Selfie Culture on Chinese Social Media

Selfie, as an action, generally refers to the taking of a picture with the front-facing camera of a smartphone or a regular camera.

Taking selfie with a selfie stick.

With the spread of smartphones in China and the rise of mobile phone software such as Weibo(Chinese: 微博), WeChat (Chinese: 微信) and Meitu (Chinese: 美图秀秀), the act of taking selfies has become a new type of social culture, generating a "new form of self-disclosure" that affects the construction of individual identities and changes existing beauty standards.

WeChat Moments and Selfies

WeChat is China's leading communication software with over one billion active users per month. Its built-in "Moments" (Chinese: 朋友圈) allows users to share pictures, which friends from the users' contact list can click to like or comment on. In "Moments", one of the forms of sharing is the uploading of selfies.

Posting selfies in WeChat moments provides a quick and easy way to present oneself, seek recognition and build a sense of self-identity by getting likes and comments. In 'The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life', Goffman describes daily social activities as a theatrical stage where individuals seek to maintain an appropriate image to ensure that others perceive them favourably. Selfies can convey information about one's economic power and class, and elaborate set-up can express spiritual aspirations beyond material possessions. In the context of "Moments" of WeChat, selfies are not just a type of picture, but have become a social device for shaping one's self-image.