In Ruth Page’s recent article Group selfies and Snapchat: From sociality to synthetic collectivisation, she extends on Zappavigna & Zhao’s (2017) taxonomy to consider how photos and sound work together on Snapchat stories to create a sense of shared perspective. She argues that:
Selfies are not just produced as images, but are a form of multimodal discourse which can include visual, aural and verbal elements when shared through video clips that can be created on smart phones.
Page, R. (2018). Group selfies and Snapchat: From sociality to synthetic collectivisation. Discourse, Context & Media. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2018.10.003
Similar to early research defining presented, mirrored, inferred, and implied selfies, Page describes the intersubjectivity of the selfie-taker as present, indirect (metonymic), indirect, and ‘zero’ through a combination of the perspective of the photograph and sounds included in video “snaps”.
With this lens, we can see how selfies can be interpreted as more than just digitally-mediated narcissistic acts but also as facilitators of sociality. Through video selfies that employ visual, textual, and auditory modes, viewers are invited to do more than just look at me; viewers are invited to look and listen with me–(or in the case of a group selfie, with us).
In online dating profiles, we can trace a variety of communicative invitations to look at me and with me through visual, textual, auditory, and technological affordances.
First, let’s consider the types of photos that users put on their dating profiles. These photos tend to be a combination of selfie-types, some that invite potential partners through visual means to look at me (and at us) and others that prompt a more social engagement to look with me .
Next, let’s consider how technological affordances embedded in some apps, like Tinder and Bumble’s option to link other social media to the dating profile facilitates opportunities for sociality through both visual and auditory. By linking one’s Instagram, for example, daters give their audience a greater view into the window of their visual life, inviting others to both look at me and look with me, depending on the types of images posted on the social photography space. With the link to Spotify, daters invite potential partners to listen with me, thus sharing their auditory perspective though musical artist preferences.
By linking one’s Instagram, for example, daters give their audience a greater view into the window of their visual life, inviting others to both look at me and look with me, depending on the types of images posted on the social photography space. With the link to Spotify, daters invite potential partners to listen with me, thus sharing their auditory perspective though musical artist preferences.
Kastrenakes, J. (2016, September 20). Tinder can now show your top Spotify tracks. Retrieved November 24, 2018, from https://www.theverge.com/2016/9/20/12948514/tinder-spotify-integration-show-top-tracks-anthem
Lastly, dating platforms like Hinge and Zoozk’s Lively allow users to post videos in addition to images on their profile. This integration of video means that people can invite their audience to look and listen to me, to us, and with us, depending on the type of video displayed.
Connecting Digitally 
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