A SELFIE is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a digital camera or camera phone held in the hand or supported by a selfie stick. Selfies are often shared on social networks such as Facebook, Weibo and WeChat.

    Selfies were popular before the term “selfie” was penned by photographer Jim Krause in 2005. Self-taken photographs were particularly common on MySpace. When other online social networks, such as Facebook, became popular, selfies evolved from “an amateurish, flash-blinded self-portrait, often taken in front of a bathroom mirror” to images that are focused and more formal.

    Initially popular with young people, selfies gained wider popularity over time with improvements in cell phone design — especially front-facing cameras on smartphones. By the end of 2012, Time magazine considered “selfie” one of the “top 10 buzzwords” of that year; even though selfies had existed long before, it was in 2012 that the term “really hit the big time.”

    These photos, taken in the square in front of Window of the World theme park in Nanshan District, show that selfies have become popular with people of all ages, genders and nationalities.

    (SD News)