By UM’s Sharon Soh

Social media has redefined the boundaries of connection and community, and with more than 1.73 billion people in APAC using social networks in 2019 as reported by eMarketer, the meaning of social interactions for young people in this region has been stretched, segmented and reinvented.

In this new world of infinite connections, the quantity of social connections has become an important indicator of how young Asians seek to define themselves, not only by what they own or what they do but by their ability to connect, share and broadcast.

In the race to accumulate more social connections than anyone else, creativity in self-expression has become a key selling point, and in many ways, this is a generation that also defines themselves via their creativity. After all, they are the first generation in history to have mass democratic access to the tools of creativity: mobile cameras, cheap editing software, design programs, and blogging platforms.

At the very core of the selfie phenomenon, one of the defining shifts in today’s social culture is a form of self-presentation and expression, where a person conveys an image about oneself to connect with another individual. According to a study by Time magazine, APAC leads the world in selfie-taking and 4 of the top 10 “selfiest” cities are in this region, a find hardly surprising given that over half of the world’s social media users reside here.

The selfie culture has become so dominant that selfie apps or beauty apps like Meitu, Faceu and Pitu have become incredibly massive here.

Read Full Article Here.