Looks like we’ve been doing it wrong all this time.

In Japan, girls are armed with an arsenal of popular selfie poses to let friends know what they’re up to. At first it may seem silly and shallow, but delve deeper into the art of selfie-taking and you’ll find there’s a lot more than meets the eye.

A short comic drawn by Japanese illustrator @5623V explains why there’s more to Twitter selfies than just simply posing, snapping, and uploading.

▼ In the short comic, pink-sweater-girl Manapis posts
two selfies of herself in near identical poses.

Her friend jokes if it’s a game of “Spot the difference”, wherein her followers have to look for discrepancies between the left and right images, but Manapis points out that there is a valid reason behind it.

In order to achieve a streamline experience on Twitter’s smartphone app, only part of an image shows up on feeds, which slices off a huge portion of single-image selfies. Photos featuring cut-off faces may not be enticing to click on either.

▼ A single-image selfie looks fine on the computer…

https://twitter.com/mumuta_mumu/status/949236985650008065

▼ …but a sizable chunk gets cut off
when viewed on your smartphone.

According to Manapis, a workaround for Twitter’s thumbnail mechanism is to upload two photos, which results in both images being fully shown.

▼ Will a double selfie make the transition? (Computer)

https://twitter.com/Kyuppa0830/status/949233440217489408

▼ Why, yes it does! (Smartphone)

Since double images retain everything except size, they tend to stand out more than single-image ones on busy Twitter timelines, making followers more likely to retweet the selfie post.

The last section in the comic might best be taken with a pinch of salt however, as Manapis goes on to explain that the format of two images with slightly different poses makes it seem like the person exists in a virtual world.

While we’re not entirely in agreement with Manapis on that last part, her advice on the double-selfie images is spot on. Couple this with some helpful selfie tips from a Japanese movie star, and you’re bound to change the way the world sees you.

…at least on Twitter.

Source: Twitter/@5623V via My Game News Flash
Featured image: Twitter/@5623V
Insert images: Twitter/@mumuta_mumu, Twitter/@Kyuppa0830