I Took a "Selfie" With The President!

Yousef Kazim

A few weeks ago, I thought that taking a "Selfie" will be something that people in United States are used to! Because usually through social media platforms such as "Instagram" you'll find thousands of "Selfie" pictures posted mostly by Americans especially celebrities, or maybe they still remember Allen DeGeneres's 2014 Oscar's Selfie which was one of the most famous examples when you say the word "Selfie"!, but I was surprised that they were looking at me in a strange weird way when I was holding my "Selfie Stick" and waving to my phone's camera! And I was like: What? Am just taking a Selfie!

"Selfie" was one of the most trended terms through social networks and platforms that was used in the beginning by Australian's, and now it’s a well-known term. which is a "Self-Portrait" photograph that typically taken with a hand-held digital camera or a smart phone's front camera and usually used in some social networking services.

In fact, I was addicted to "Selfie's" since I had my first camera integrated phone "Nokia" back in college when i studied at Kuwait University during 2001 and at that time my friends were making fun of me when I face my phone's camera to take a photo of my face.. and posing. But now it became a common thing almost among all smart phones users, especially if they are so into social media platforms and using Instagram to be more specific, and that could be a way for some of them to gain and get more likes, comments and followers in that social network platform.

Using My Selfie Stick with my fellow Prof.Arona 

"Instagram images with a face in them will get 38% more likes and they’re also get 32% more comments, reveals latest research at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Yahoo Labs. The research analyzed at 1.1 million photos on Instagram and found that pictures with  faces in them are 38 percent more likely to receive likes than photos with no faces. Images with faces in them are also 32 percent more likely to attract comments." (Gilbert, 2014).

"Selfie" with The President Dr.McDavis

During the welcome ceremony which held in Ohio University in Athens for the SUSi scholars - who are participating in this academic program which is founded by the USA Government and organized by the International Institute of Journalism at Ohio University, I was walking around using my "Selfie Stick" – as I like to call it – to take some photographs and treasuring those great moments when suddenly and unlike what I expected! The President of Ohio University, Dr. Roderick McDavis, was very open and accept that I take a picture with him on my "Selfie" way and that was the moment when I had a "Selfie with the President"!

Face It: Instagram Pictures With Faces are More Popular. (n.d.). . Retrieved July 24, 2014, from http://www.news.gatech.edu/2014/03/20/face-it-instagram-pictures-faces-are-more-popular