"Do you have BeReal?" This new app has already been downloaded 28 million times, so if you want to be ahead of the curve, now is the time to download it to your phone!
The French BeReal is a new social platform that brands itself as "not another new social network". BeReal has existed since 2020, but its usage has grown at a rapid pace during spring and summer 2022.
BeReal is above all spontaneous and authentic. The app gives all users a two-minute time window every day at different times to share a photo. The app takes photos with both front and rear cameras simultaneously and shares the moment with the user's "friends". By posting their own photo, the user sees photos shared by their friends from the same moment and finds out what they are doing. From the app, you can choose whether your photos are visible globally to all BeReal users in the Discovery feed or only to added friends. Users can react with "RealMojis" – personalized selfie versions of emojis.
The app's late post feature allows you to add a photo after the time window. However, it shows how late you posted the photo. You can retake the photo as many times as you want, but be warned: the number of retaken photos is also visible to others! Have you ever been as real as you want to appear to your friends? The user can also keep the app as a "memory folder", to which they add a photo every day. Photos are transferred to a calendar found in the app, visible only to the user themselves, where they remain saved.
BeReal app has no filters, chat feature, or statistics for likes and followers. BeReal itself communicates that "BeReal won't make you famous. If you want to become an influencer you can stay on TikTok and Instagram". Will influencers continue to influence BeReal so that it begins to add features that could support content creator work, or would it fight against BeReal's fundamental idea? Will the app be able to post trendy videos in the future or follow unknown people and comment on anyone's posts? Will other social platforms copy BeReal's concept? Will growing popularity and pressure to develop cause the BeReal app to transform into a new, even commercial tool for influencers?
Let's be real – it's quite possible.
