– Debbie Laskey, MBA
The recent Oscar awards show is in the history books. While the show may not have been very exciting, there is something that continues to generate buzz in social media circles. Ellen DeGeneres promoted a Selfie, a photo of several of her A-list pals taken by someone else.
Ellen asked the viewing public to share her Selfie, and fans did as requested, making the image the most shared image on Twitter – over three million times.
There are some interesting issues surrounding the famous Selfie: who owns the photo? While the photo may have been taken on Ellen’s phablet (a single device combining a smartphone and tablet), it was taken at her request. Bradley Cooper framed the shot and clicked the button, so did he create the composition, similar to how an artist would draw a picture or another piece of art? Is similar to how an author writes a book, play, or movie script?
While Ellen assembled the group who eventually smiled at the phablet, do all of the famous actors and actresses have partial ownership of the photo?
Did the group of A-list celebrities agree to be photographed by signing any documentation? This is particularly interesting because Ellen created this famous photo IRT, or in social lingo, in real time and on live television. No A-list celebrity wants to be known as a bad sport and say “no” to a host during a live telecast. Can you imagine if Meryl Streep had said, “Sorry, Ellen, I’m not interested.”
The attention paid to this Oscar Selfie is not so hard to understand. Social media sites, such as, Pinterest and Instagram, which have a focus on images rather than content are taking over. This means that you have probably taken a Selfie, your brother has taken one, your cousin has taken one, etc. And everyone has shared them. The point is, you understand how easy it was for Ellen to gather her friends and entice them to smile for the camera.
So, as we await the next most-shared Tweet on Twitter, It really isn’t important who owns Ellen’s Selfie. What’s important is that the creativity behind it made us smile and caused Twitter to question how to improve its servers so that, next time, Twitter’s servers don’t go down. Some viewers didn’t even get to share the Tweet, despite Ellen’s request.
What about you? Did you RT Ellen’s Selfie on your Twitter account?