Oxford Dictionary named “Selfie” the word of the year for 2013. This perfectly captures our social media crazed generation. If you don’t know what a selfie is, Oxford Dictionaries defines it as:
(n.) a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.

I recently posted this selfie to show the magic of photography and that before and after photos can sometimes be misleading.

It’s a before and after photo of me “losing 15 lbs” with both photos taken less than 15 minutes apart. I captioned it with a few “Selfie tips”. The photo generated some buzz and soon Stacey Ross of San Diego Bargain Mama reached out to me to see if she could include me in her article about selfies for TheOnlineMom.com. My photo was one of the ones that inspired her to make sure everyone could usher in the New Year with the perfect selfie. She presents 7 tips for taking sensational selfies. Her first tip is courtesy of me:

1. Shed excess weight almost instantly! Social media educator and founder of Marketing Melodie, Melodie Tao, shared with her colleagues secrets that many marketers might not ever wish to: “Wooohooo! I Lost 15lbs in 15 minutes! It’s that easy! And also proof that ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos are misleading. On the left ‘before’ photo, I zoomed in and was slouching and sticking my stomach out. Fifteen minutes later on the right ‘after’ photo, I zoomed out, stood up straight and threw in the ‘skinny arm on hip trick!’ You can now see how much we actually have control, even before Photoshop is used!” Yes, angles, arm positioning, posture and zoom, made my before and after possible.

Other tips include:
2. Consider the lighting
3. Improve your headshots immediately
4. Take off the phone cover
5. Use your arm to frame the best image
6. Play around with lenses and filters
7. Lastly, if you’re a mom: Sensor your kids!

To read the full post and learn how to ensure you help Oxford’s word of the year live up to its name for the rest of 2013 and into the new year, click here.

Thanks again to Stacey for featuring me in her selfie article. I do hope that you learn at least one or two new tips you can apply to your next potential Facebook profile photo. For a few more laughs, here is my favorite late night comedian, Jimmy Kimmel asking pedistrians on the street if their profile photo is a selfie.