With so many smartphone users these days seemingly unable to resist turning the camera on themselves, the selfie has over the last year grown in prominence significantly, a factor which led to Oxford Dictionaries choosing it as its Word of the Year.
And with so many app developers now trying to cash in on the phenomenon, Apple
has decided to highlight a few of the offerings by launching a ‘Sharing Selfies’ section in both its iOS and Mac app stores.
The new listing brings together a range of apps that are in some way connected to the selfie, so, for example, Snapchat’s in there, together with others you may have heard of like Frontback, Picr, and 1 Second Everyday.
Indicating the degree of impact selfies have had over the past 12 months, Oxford Dictionaries said there was “little, if any, argument” in choosing it as its Word of the Year, calling it a “runaway winner.”
The dictionary editors said that although it’s not a new word – the first recorded use was by an inebriated party-goer back in 2002 – it’d recently made a huge leap in popularity, adding, “It seems like everyone who is anyone has posted a selfie somewhere on the Internet. If it’s good enough for the Obamas or the Pope, then it’s good enough for Word of the Year.” And now it’s evidently good enough to have its own section in Apple’s app stores.
You can check out Apple’s new Sharing Selfies category via the iTunes store by clicking here.
[Large image: Antonio Diaz / Shutterstock] [Screenshot: LA Times]
