If you’ve not heard of the BeReal app and aren’t a member of Generation Z, you’re pardoned. The social media app is the most recent to capture the attention of the younger generation, and its popularity is rapidly growing.
According to Apptopia data, downloads have increased by at least 315 percent this year.
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What exactly is real?
Social networking may be time-consuming and stressful, but BeReal claims it wants to alter that.
This is how it works. The app sends you notifications once a day. It informs you that it is time to post your BeReal for the day and that you have two minutes to do it. Your friends should also receive the notification at the same time.
The concept is that you photograph anything you’re doing at the time, no matter how banal or fascinating it is. You may be walking to class, taking the bus to work, or getting the notice while eating supper or riding your bike.
You use your back-facing camera to photograph what you’re doing, and your phone uses its front-facing camera to photograph you – surprise!
That’s all. You can’t modify your appearance using filters or third-party apps. Retakes are allowed, and you may still publish if you miss the window, but your friends will know that you took back the image or uploaded it late in both circumstances.
The program bills the parameters in place as “a fresh and unique method to uncover who your friends truly are in their everyday lives.”
Users may also use a map to check where their friends are and locate other publicly uploaded Bengals. The catch is that before you can see anybody else’s post for the day, you must first publish your own.
Why is it so popular right now?
BeReal’s 315 percent year-to-date spike in downloads is impressive, but it’s not the only one. Alexis Barreyat, a French entrepreneur, launched the app in 2020, although at least 65 percent of lifetime downloads occurred in the 1st quarter of 2022.
With its ambassador program, the app appears to be targeting college students.
Meredith Mueller is a sophomore journalism student at the University of Kansas. Mueller got BeReal a few weeks ago after hearing about it from her partner.
“I downloaded it, filled in my information, and it showed up with all my connections with folks who also had this,” Mueller explained. “And I was thinking, how have I never heard of this and all these people in my contacts have it?”
Mueller claimed to have roughly 50 friends on BeReal, far less than the 2,000 or so followers she had on Instagram. And, unlike Instagram or Snapchat, where Mueller claims there is pressure “to look nice,” she believes BeReal lacks that phony sense.
“Snapchat is more like you’re sending it to one person, while if you put on your story, you’re trying to appear nice,” she explained. “Whereas this is like… wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, you come to a complete halt and all your pals can see it. It’s more of a practical app. It’s almost like a judgment-free zone, in my opinion.”
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