SELFIES, YOUNG PEOPLE AND SEXUALITY IN INSTAGRAM: SELF - REPRESENTATION ON IMAGE FORMAT

Images, specifically personal photographs, are key elements on interactions and self-representations that people put on the line in digital socialization spaces. In this article we analize some of the most significant features about self- pictures or selfies shared on instagram, from a critical and gender perspective, contextualizing those results in a whole framework which aims to offer an approach to young people ' s affective and digital communication model. The study starts from a sample of 403 profiles of boys and girls from different Asturian secondary schools on their 4 degrees secondary compulsory course, in 2014 2015 academic year. In order to obtain information from these profiles, different strategies have been used, from direct observation and digital field diary to a computer tool called AUTOGRAM, which monitored and realized pre- analysis of measurable aspects of the collected images. The data obtained were treated in a qualitative manner, following descriptive categories. Evidences shed conclusions around the gender differences detected between boys and girls selfies, also treating the rituality of the "take a selfie" process and sociocultural references detected which point to an specific idea of sexuality.