“The BeReal’s out!” my friend exclaims, as I rush to snap a two-sided shot — a selfie and a rear camera picture. Within two minutes, thousands of users post a moment in their day onto this popular social media platform. Once you take your picture, it gets sent to all your friends, who can use a RealMoji to react to your post. Although you are able to post after the three minute time frame, your post gets marked “late.” Because of this, there is intense pressure for posting on time to avoid being “BeFake”. But how did this craze take over in just a couple of months? The truth: it didn’t.
BeReal was created by French GoPro employee Alexis Barrey in 2020. However, it was only this year when the app’s popularity soared. Not only does it have 21.6 million monthly users, it is the second most downloaded app this month in the US, falling behind TikTok. It wasn’t until the week of Jul. 11 in which it saw its largest growth. Approximately 1.7 million times. Furthermore, in September 2022, the app had been downloaded 28 million times.
So how did it gain so much popularity? To spread awareness about the app, Barreyat suggested having college students in the US become ambassadors for the app, so they could share it among friends. After the app implemented this assistance, BeReal got 7.64 million downloads. But it really picked up once users began to discuss the growing app on TikTok, with posts about BeReal getting a half million likes or more. Additionally, BeReal jokes were used on Twitter as funny alternatives to political posts. From all this attention, several investors had put in $65 million as capital in May 2022 alone. Now, the company is valued at $650 million by Facebook investor Yuri Milner.
Ryan Brodernick, the writer of the popular blog Garbage Day, argues that BeReal is part of the same trend as Wordle; the limited time in which it is available connects users online and motivates usage. People love the “ugliness” associated with the app, making it more informal than Instagram can ever be. Also, because people often have significantly less friends on BeReal, users feel more comfortable posting, and if a user wants to see their friends’ posts, they must post themselves. These factors together encourage people to post, straying away from the picture perfect expectations that Instagram has perpetuated. The company stated “We want an alternative to addictive social networks fueling social comparison and portraying life with the goal of amassing influence.”
Posting yourself unfiltered differentiates BeReal because people aren’t able to become an influencer, or make any type of money by presenting themselves authentically. Seeing everyone else’s highlights while you stay at home and do boring tasks may be one of social media’s greatest challenges, but BeReal has shown that everyone else’s lives are pretty much mundane too.
BeReal has changed the way we approach social media. However, experts are already predicting its downfall, claiming its novelty will soon diminish and people will no longer find interest in the two minute timer. Nevertheless, until then, continue snapping moments and enjoying the break the app has to offer.
Written by Nandi Patel of Richard Montgomery High School