Selfie, the act of taking a photo of yourself, typically on a smartphone, has been named by Oxford Dictionaries as the Word of the Year. The dictionary's research team monitored a whopping 17,000% increase in use of the word over the course of the year.
So how did the word manage such a dizzying increase in use and popularity this year, despite it being known around certain sections of internet for over a decade? Here are some of the pioneers that ensured the idea went well and truly viral in 2013.
The selfie is nothing without some high-profile advocates. Eminem couldn't resist when he found himself in front of the Mona Lisa...
Image source
Meryl Streep, meanwhile, spotted the chance for a new profile photo late last year when she found herself chatting with Hilary Clinton...
Meryl Streep and Hillary Clinton take celebrity selfies celebrity selfie http://t.co/bKCD0YMd pic.twitter.com/L7wzjh3o
— Selfie_guru (@SelfieGuru) December 5, 2012
This group of teenagers found themselves achieving internet fame when they managed to coax the Pope himself into the frame...
@KofC epic #selfie #PopeFrancis pic.twitter.com/CLYduUpxDA
— Fabio M. Ragona (@FabioMRagona) August 29, 2013
Ricky Gervias has started an unusual sub-trend of selfies: the bathtub selfie.
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Some astronauts, meanwhile, have taken the concept of a selfie beyond the atmosphere:
There are selfies, and then, well there are selfies. pic.twitter.com/g9bLaiu3k6
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) November 17, 2013
It's not a trend without plenty of people taking it to amusingly inappropriate extremes, though:
Image source: Selfies at Serious Places
Images sourced by Cathal Moore
