In 1998, Saparmurat Niyazov constructed an arch with a golden statue of himself atop that rotated throughout the day to face the sun. The so-called Turkmenbashi created a modern cult of personality that rivaled that of any past dictator with vast agitprop operations.
But nothing quite compares to the proliferation of small-scale personality cultivation that has popped up in the age of social media. Facebook is celebrating its ten-year anniversary this month and its billion users can reflect how the formation of their profiles and social selves has changed in that decade.
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