This research is based on the assumption that social media sites -such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube -have changed the way in which memes (culturally transmitted ideas) are transmitted or spread. It is argued that social media have provided the most fertile environment for the replication of memes to date. The social networking site Facebook is the main social media example used throughout the research. The way in which Facebook is represented in film, as well as the ways in which the offline lives of the characters are affected by their social media profiles, specifically as depicted in the film Catfish (Joost and Schulman 2010) are analysed. Lastly, it is argued that one can construct an entirely new persona, or merely experiment with different aspects of who you are, on social media sites. This online persona can be influenced by the memes one chooses to spread online. Naturally, all memes carry connotations, values and judgements. These memes collate with one"s profile and, thus, the connotations attached to the memes one shares are then associated with one"s online persona/profile. It is found that although a social networking user tries to portray him/herself in an idealised manner, these memetic connotations give a true impression of his/her offline persona. As a result, there is not much difference between the user"s online and offline personae.

Selfies have become more dangerous than sharks, if the 15 reported selfie deaths in 2015 are compared to the 8 shark attacks in the same year. Determining the exact parameters for a selfie death or death by selfie is difficult; in some cases one may argue that the selfie is not the cause of death but in fact only occurs tragically before the event. The focus of this article falls on those selfies that were taken in pursuit of experiencing a sublime encounter with mortality and that in the end succeeded in evoking that looming encounter. It is argued that the obsession to experience the inexplicable is however not a recent endeavour, and the sublime is a useful aesthetic category to unpack the phenomenon of selfie deaths. In the analysis, three categories are identified to interpret the subject, namely selfies unknowingly taken before death; selfies of death where the takers death is almost witnessed; and selfies with death where the taker stands by while someone else dies. The emphasis falls on the analysis of selfies of death that overlaps with the sublime experience almost entirely and it becomes nearly impossible to distinguish between selfie and sublimity. http://mc.http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ecs European Journal of Cultural Studies Abstract:Selfies have become more dangerous than sharks, if the 15 reported selfie deaths in 2015 are compared to the 8 shark attacks in the same year. Determining the exact parameters for a selfie death or death by selfie is difficult; in some cases one may argue that the selfie is not the cause of death but in fact only occurs tragically before the event. The focus of this article falls on those selfies that were taken in pursuit of experiencing a sublime encounter with mortality and that in the end succeeded in evoking that looming encounter. It is argued that the obsession to experience the inexplicable is however not a recent endeavour, and the sublime is a useful aesthetic category to unpack the phenomenon of selfie deaths. In the analysis, three categories are identified to interpret the subject, namely selfies unknowingly taken before death; selfies of death where the takers death is almost witnessed; and selfies with death where the taker stands by while someone else dies. The emphasis falls on the analysis of selfies of death that overlaps with the sublime experience almost entirely and it becomes nearly impossible to distinguish between selfie and sublimity.

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