Judging from reactions both at home and abroad, selfie diplomacy, a trick Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak just learnt and has been eager to flaunt, may be fast reaching its use-by date.

Even United States president Barack Obama has been viewed dimly for his penchant to take selfies, with his latest he took with Najib lambasted by media and observers in the US.

Najib's awkward selfie complete with a duck face (a term to refer to the slight pouting of the lips to enhance cuteness), last Sunday with Obama may have gotten a lot of eyeballs. But along with it, came the large swell of ridicule that had been kept at bay since Najib started experimenting with this youth culture phenomenon.

Judging from the memes that have been circulating online, Malaysian netizens who had held back at Najib's selfies with Singapore' Lee Hsien Loong, Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan and Indonesia's Susilo Bambang Yudhuyono, seemed unable to help it this time around.

In some ways, the Obama-Najib power selfie may have just been asking for it.

In the gaping space between Najib and Obama in the much-circulated selfie, netizens have now added a cheeky looking Anwar Ibrahim, the PKR de facto leader who made quite a scene over not being invited to meet Obama.

Better yet, in another version, creeping behind Najib and Obama is also infamous Raja Bomoh Ibrahim Mat Zin shaking some coconuts in the same pose he struck during a ritual to find missing Flight MH370.

'This may be getting out of hand'

Back in the US, Obama's selfie with the Malaysian PM was knocked by CBS News as a sign that the president's love for selfies is getting “out of hand”.

Listing the time when Obama was caught on camera snapping selfies - most grave being the one taken during South African leader Nelson Mandela’s memorial - CBS News suggests that Obama's selfies is not doing him or the country much favour.

According to US-based Twitter -curation site Twitchy , it’s compilation of reactions to the Najib-Obama selfie felt like a collective cringe.

‘You are the president!’ See Obama’s latest ‘embarrassing’ selfie,” the website said, giving Obama the label of 'President Selfie'.

One Twitter user featured said: “Stop taking selfies. You are the president of the US. Please show some class.”

New York Daily News certainly did not view the selfie kindly, especially after the president snubbed a thirteen-year-old girl who had asked for the same hours before that in Seoul.

“Just take a picture of me as I’m going by,” Obama reportedly told the girl, explaining that if he did so for her, he would have to do it for everyone.

The portal said the “selfie snafu” is not the first.

Earlier this month, White House senior adviser Dan Pfieffer imposed a selfie ban with the president after Obama found himself inadvertantly endorsing a product.

Obama had then taken a picture with baseball player David Ortiz, not knowing that the stunt was sponsored by Samsung.

“And perhaps maybe this will be the end of all selfies," Pfieffer said in a CBS interview.

Perhaps the first mover in selfie-diplomacy, Obama's critics and indeed his staff's doubts over the matter may soon put an end to this brand of  politics-meets-pop culture

But as late comers to the trend, Malaysian politicians and their admirers may indeed have a little bit more time yet to selfie their hearts out.