AHMEDABAD: It takes only a second to like someone’s selfie, but what goes into posting the picture is a ‘rigorous process’ that may involve days of commitment, consultation, effort, and editing. This is what Ruchi Tewari, associate professor at MICA, and Reena Shah, assistant professor at Indus University, found out when they carried out a study involving 32 youths.
“Responses from the focused group discussion highlighted that the pictures are seldom posted on impulse, and can take up to seven days if the ‘subject’ is not immediate,” said Prof Tewari. She gave an example of a wedding ceremony vis-a-vis having ice-cream at a cafe. “The wedding pictures might be up within an hour of clicking, but the cafe pictures might take longer. Likewise, pictures for family and close friends might be different and posted on different social media sites.”
Persons in the selfie also matter, and so do the captions. One of the participants quipped that “200 likes and no comment would not be desirable, but 100 likes and 20 comments is a ‘good combination’”. Likewise, if previous pictures get a high number of likes, the user is conscious of keeping up the standard.
Gender also plays a role, said Prof Tewari. “Boys are likely to have more individual selfies compared to girls. But, in group selfies, we often observe that in case of boys, the chances of all-boys pics are high,” she added.