Selfies

What's the difference between the two pictures? What do these people look like? How do they make you feel?

1. Do you often take a selfie?
2. Do you use many social networks?
3. What social networks do you use and what kind of pictures do you usually post?
4. Do you try to look better in your pictures? Why? Why not?
5. Do you ever edit your selfies?

Match the insta lie to the possible truth behind it:

Insta lies

the possible truth behind

Gooood morning!!! Chris 30 km bike ride done! Becky M. Getting organised! James super healthy breakfast! New me! Michael stylin' Annie Love spending quality time with these guys x Lydia BIG night ahead! Sophie Awwwww my man xxx

to show how you keep fit but in reality you drive your car instead of cycling. to show how organised you are even though you are messy. to show how pretty you are when you've just woken up, but in fact you've already put on your makeup. to show that you are on a diet but in fact you can't even finish your healthy drink. to show how much fun you have with your friends even though you don't even talk to them to show how effortlessly you take your selfie though it took you a lot of effort to show how much fun you will have tonight while you will stay at home to show how wonderful your relationship is even though you have problems.

How do people lie about themselves?

How far can they go in their lies?

How do they feel when they get likes for their selfies?

Listen and fill in the missing words:

Hi there. I'm gonna talk today about what a selfie is and what I think about it. So, a selfie is when there's a picture taken of you but you are the person who took the picture. I think before selfies used to be just of one person but as I saw from the pictures that I saw it can either be you taking a picture of yourself or you taking a picture of yourself and other people. I think selfies can be ... but they also are kind of ... . They're useful, for example, when I am away from my husband, and I wanna show him what I'm doing. For example, maybe, I'm trying on an outfit and I want his opinion, or maybe I'm with my family and I wanna show him how ... I am. But sometimes people can just take selfies because they want to show the world what they are doing. I think that's an ... concept, it's a ... thing. It's not something people used to do even five years ago and I think it's a reaction to the ability to be able to mediate yourself pretty much every moment through instagram, twitter, facebook, and I think, in the end, as silly as it can be, when people make ... faces or when they take a picture and share it all the time, I think it's actually a way for people to feel a little bit more ... and a little bit less ... . What do you guys think?

1. What part of speech are the missing words?
2. When are selfies useful, according to the speaker?
3. Why do people show themselves to the world, according to the speaker?
4. What do you think about selfies? Are they silly? Are they useful? Are they a good way to connect to the rest of the world?

****

The selfie craze continues

Every time I log into social media nowadays I am greeted by the faces of my friends and public figures. They might be at an event, standing in front of an iconic landmark, eating something yummy, or showing off a new outfit or hair style. Increasingly these faces are being seen in selfie form.

The Oxford Dictionary, which chose "selfie" as its word of the year in 2013, defines a selfie as "a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website". With the growing use of social media and recent technological developments it has never been easier to take a selfie and share it with anyone you want. In fact people are going to extreme lengths to take the "perfect selfie" by, for example, assembling large groups of people for one shot, photobombing celebrities or, more worryingly, putting themselves in dangerous situations! For the individual there are many reasons why they chose to take it. They may be in a cool location (I can happily admit to posting many selfies from in front of the Eiffel Tower). They may be with friends or family. They may just be feeling really good about the way they look that day!

Whatever your opinion, it has recently become evident that the selfie craze can be used to do much good. It can be a great way to draw attention to serious issues as some people may be more likely to hear about something through an image popping up on their newsfeed rather than purposely seeking out a news story. Recently, various UK charities have raised large amounts of money after being advertised by celebrities posing in selfies whilst holding notices explaining how to donate to the charity. Similarly there has been a growing interest in people posting selfies to social media as a sort of advertisement for a charity. The idea is for people who post a selfie to donate a small amount of money to the charity and encourage their friends to do the same. The selfie may have a theme such as the recent 'no make-up selfie' idea which raised millions of pounds for cancer research charities in the UK. Even if they do not donate money to the charity, they are still raising awareness!

Whether you're a fan or not, it is clear that the selfie is having a huge impact on how we communicate with the world today.

Match the words to their meanings:

a notice or announcement in a public medium promoting a product, service, or event	craze
spoil a photograph of (a person or thing) by unexpectedly appearing in the camera's field of view as the picture is taken	issue
a person, such as a politician, celebrity, social media personality, or business leader	public figure
knowledge of a situation or fact	pop up
an important topic or problem	awareness
appear	advertisement
an enthusiasm for a particular activity	photobomb

What does the blogger see every time she logs on into social media?

What definition does the Oxford Dictionary give to the word 'selfie'?

How do people go to extreme lengths to take a selfie?

How can selfies be used to do good things?

'The selfie has a huge impact on how we communicate with the world today' means:

• Selfie makes an important part of modern communication.
• Selfie can help to communicate your ideas to the world.

What do you think about the 'no make-up selfie' idea? Is it a good or bad thing? In what way is it useful?