What a College HouseParty Teaches Us About Branding in a Post-Selfie Era

18-year-old Australian Model Essena O'Neill (pictured above) shocked many when she altered and eventually deleted her Instagram account after building up more than 600,000 followers. Arguably, her move was a reflection of the coming post-selfie era.

To understand the post-selfie era, we should start with what we know about selfies.

CBS news reports that over 93 million selfies are taken worldwide every day. Each week 17 million of those selfies find their way onto the internet. 

The concept of taking a selfie isn't a new thing. People have taken images of themselves since the 1920s. However, technology has fueled an explosion of self-referencing images (and behaviors):

• Toddlers take selfies
• People create their own avatars
• Oxford Dictionary names selfie the 2013 Word of the Year

It's fair to say that we live in a selfie-obsessed world and, by most accounts, millennials are leading the charge.

Pew Research Center found that 55 percent of adults between the ages of 18 and 33 had posted a selfie to a social media site. That compares to Generation X (24 percent) and Baby Boomers (9 percent). 

Even my 85-year-old father takes an occasional selfie!

Jennifer Ouellette, a science writer whose latest book is "Me, Myself and Why: Searching for the Science of Self" suggests that the obsession with selfies is a positive thing as it helps people (especially millennials) find their identities. 

Perhaps all of this is changing....

A recent college HouseParty that I went to suggests that everything we know about a selfie-obsessed culture is about to change...in fact, it has already started.

First, a bit about the HouseParty I attended. There was no:

• Crazy college hijinks.
• Red solo cups scattered about the room.
• Music cranked up to annoy the neighbors.

This 'party' took place in my classroom and our guest of honor was Sima Sistani, Co-Founder and COO of HouseParty.

A social media pioneer, Sistani started her career at Goldman Sachs and Creative Artists Agency, but put her mark on the social media frontier with roles at Tumblr, Yahoo, Rogue Paper, and now as a co-founder of HouseParty.

Sistani's company is building on its Meerkat experience to develop and launch Houseparty - a "synchronous social network" where multiple friends can live chat.

According to The Verge, Houseparty, "has been gaining traction among young people around the country — and it’s closing in on 1,000,000 users. Its creators say it encourages users to have frequent, candid conversations with their friends and family."

What did Sistani teach us about the branding and social in a post-selfie era?

Two key takeaways:

1. Movement toward authenticity.

Sistani explained that Houseparty believes a post-selfie era of authenticity has arrived on the internet.  In fact, they are so willing to bet on that fact that they built their new product — Houseparty around this very concept. You may remember the story from October 2015 when Australian model, Essena O'Neill (pictured at top and below), "deleted more than 2,000 pictures “that served no real purpose other than self-promotion”, and dramatically edited the captions to the remaining 96 posts in a bid to to reveal the manipulation, mundanity, and even insecurity behind them." (The Guardian)

Here's one example:

According to Sistani, O'Neill's move points to a growing trend toward authenticity. WideNet writer, Mathew Tyson further echoes the importance of authenticity to millennials, "What matters is that they’re not moved by flashy ads, big promises, and “wow” factor. They want authentic messages, authentic brands, and authentic interactions."

Forbes explains that the desire for authenticity may be critical to millennials, but is important to all generations and it often involves alignment between how you depict yourself in cyberspace and present yourself in the 'real world'. "Being authentic, these days, has much to do with the self you portray both online and offline – do they match up, or is one, presumably your on-line one, merely a persona?"

2. Movement from me to us.

At our HouseParty, Sistani explained that as social media users embrace authenticity, they are also turning the camera around to look at others or, better yet, opening the aperture to include two, three, or more people in the photo. In doing so, the discussion is less about 'me' and more about 'us' - how we interact and what we accomplish together.

Why have a million+ people downloaded the Houseparty app? Arguably some did it because they download anything that is new. Others may have done it simply because they thought they would give it a try. However, the majority likely accessed and used the tool because they wanted to 'hangout' with friends and family in real time, share experiences, and connect.

Today connection is not simply putting out the image of the 'perfect you' or talking to one person on the phone (or via text), it is interacting with many, all at the same time.

According to Matthew Manos, Founder and Managing Partner of global design and strategy consultancy, VeryNice.co, "This isn't the Mad Men era... you can't put a clever line on a poster and expect my generation to read it – instead, you need to initiate a conversation and talk with us, not at us." Note the keyword, 'us'.

Consider your social media brand and ask yourself these key questions:

• Are you presenting an authentic picture of your product, your company, or yourself? If not, what is the risk/reward of moving in that direction?
• Is your social media presence all about you or your product? Is the camera always pointing inward? Or, are you adding value and gaining followers by including them in the picture?
• What are you contributing to the conversation? Do people engage you on social media or just passively watch as you are just adding more noise to an already earsplitting whirlwind of sound?
• What could you do today to begin to move the media on your social media image? How might you start a house party of your own?

I wish you all the best as you work to establish an authentic and engaging social media brand for yourself, your product, and your company! I also invite you to consider reading my other posts on leadership, branding, and career development.

Best- Patrick