As a picture of an egg replaced Kylie Jenner as the most popular photo on Instagram, new research revealed that 78% of people who take selfies don’t share them on social media. So is the age of the public selfie finally on the decline?
In the top 10 most liked Instagram photos of 2018, Selfie Queen Kylie Jenner features six times on the list alongside other photo-friendly celebs including Justin Bieber, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ariana Grande. Yet all have been left in the shade this week as a picture of an ordinary egg became the most liked picture on the channel with over 39 million likes, smashing Kylie Jenner’s previous record of 18 million likes.
But is the social performance of this very plain egg indicative of a wider trend as our love of sharing (and seeing) selfies starts to wane? In a recent survey of 2,682 people conducted by Envirofone, 52% of phone users said they think people take too many selfies and that’s despite the fact that we’re actually only taking an average of 2.5 selfies per week now.
Only 13% of selfie takers now share their photo on social media channels with most preferring to keep them to themselves, in spite of the fact camera’s produce better quality photos than ever before, there are an endless amount of filters on offer to help us look our best and the easy validation that ‘likes’ and comments can offer on social media.
One in ten [11%] phone users agreed that they see too many selfies on social feeds, despite 2018’s most liked Instagram photos being made up of self-proclaimed seasoned selfie takers. More than one in ten [14%] also said that they find selfies narcissistic, more evidence that Brits are becoming bored with selfies.
It appears that the reason people take selfies has changed too with just 2% admitting they take and share selfies on social media for likes and comments and 65% doing so as a way to record memories. However, as more than one in four [27%] said they just share selfies with family and friends privately now, it looks like we’ve passed the peak of public selfies.
Denise Timmis, head of online at Envirofone, said: “While it’s light-hearted news that Kylie’s selfie has lost the title of ‘most liked Instagram post’ to an egg, I think it’s definitely interesting that the age of the selfie seems to be drawing to a close.
“Modern mobiles at all price points have excellent cameras capable of extremely high-quality photography. Most phones have wide shot and panorama capabilities and many phones are now sporting dual-lense cameras.
“It seems that with these amazing cameras, more and more of us are dabbling in our own amateur photography escapades. Many of us now love to take great landscape shots, snaps of our meals at fancy restaurants and holiday pictures that we’ll hold as dear memories.
“As our phone cameras become more powerful, I think we’re becoming more interested in capturing the world around us, rather than always focusing on ourselves.”
