Google’s art selfies are the talk of Twitter (usatoday.com).
The Google Arts and Culture app is over two years old, but it’s suddenly taken the smartphone world by storm, thanks to the discovery of a quietly added update—a selfie feature.
A “selfie feature?” Why? If that isn’t a redundant question for what is held in hand that has become along with social media a personal lifestreaming device.
Google’s app, one of many from the internet giant, is designed to introduce the world to fine art, but a feature that’s not prominently displayed now allows users to take a selfie, and compare themselves to works of great art.
And that “not prominently displayed” selfie feature has now made it go viral by asking “Is your portrait in a museum? Take a selfie and search thousands of artworks to see if any look like you”.
Indeed, sorry, “10 things you might not know about Van Gogh”, or “the hidden history of Hokusai’s The Great Wave woodblock print”, it’s not you that made Google’s “culture” go viral:
That feature went live in mid-December, but took a few weeks to get discovered. Once the selfies began showing up on Twitter and Facebook, the app quickly shot to the top of the app charts over the weekend. It’s currently no. 1 on both the iOS App Store and Google Play Store.
Art and social media seemingly finding common ground, and taking and posting a #duckface standing upon it:
The ego as a work of art: From self-portraits to selfies (dw.com, Nov. 2015).
You can see what Google algorithm has picked as a doppelganger for the rich and famous and the mere mortals that just wanna be with the #GoogleArts hashtag (Twitter).
Recent/related stories
- Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi smashes world records with $450 million sale (Latest Picks 17th November 2017)
- Twitter extends 280 char tweets to all (Latest Picks 11th November 2017)