The Rise of BeReal — The New Boring Anti-social Social Media
And the mirage of online authenticity
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In recent weeks, one app has been steadily occupying the first position in the App Store, making headlines virtually in every newspaper –Wall Street Journal, Teen Vogue, Business Insider, the New Yorker, and the New York Times.
Its name is BeReal.
The social media landscape is witnessing a growing refusal to conform. More and more young people do not share the values of the old guard social networks and are leaving the platforms to move elsewhere.
Facebook and Instagram are increasingly TikTok clones, feeding the feed with interest-based content rather than content from friends and acquaintances.
The younger generation is looking for something, and they seem to have found it in BeReal.
Labeled as the anti-Instagram, BeReal is spreading like wildfire on college campuses. Launched in 2020, it has more than 22.8 million downloads and, currently, is the most downloaded app in the U.S. app store.
In the ultra-saturated social media market, its unique selling proposition wants to be authenticity, which the app promotes by punctuating the time to snap and post.
BeReal is the brainchild of Kévin Perreau and Alexis Barreyat. For work, Perreau has often been in contact with influencers and was baffled to see the multitude of perfect images in their feeds.
So, after a short time, he introduced BeReal with a post on LinkedIn in these words:
“After being tired and annoyed with all the bullshit on social media, I decided to launch my own. No like, No followers, No ads, No filters, just what my Friends are doing, in the most authentic way possible.”
The app gained early traction among European teenagers and raised $36 million in a Series A round in June last year.
From there on, within months, it became the favorite app of Gen Z in the United States.
BeReal has grown 315% this year, with 65% of all downloads occurring in the first quarter. But real popularity has grown further in recent weeks through memes.
July was the month of most momentum for the social network, which saw an 86% growth in downloads month-on-month, totaling 7.8 million.
For now, it is unclear how the founders plan to monetize the app. BeReal does not host paid ads. However, brands such as Chipotle are already experimenting with how to promote themselves on the platform.
To date, the company has held up on fundraising. And after the first round, there is already talk of a possible $85 million Series B round that would bring the social network’s valuation to $630 million.
How it works
BeReal wants to incentivize authenticity and eliminate FOMO, that feeling of missing out on something when others share sensational experiences.
The app is designed to capture the monotonous. While Instagram incentivizes people to make their lives as glamorous as possible, BeReal pushes them to share moments that users would not usually share. Typically, mundane and far from exceptional moments –photos at work, school, on the road, or on the couch.
A countdown timer gives users two minutes to snap and post it. The app shoots automatically with two cameras, no filters are allowed, and notifications for shots are not scheduled.
Only once users post can they see what friends have posted on a feed that resets by default every day. It’s possible to post after the two-minute mark, but everyone will know you are late.
Friends can respond with a selfie reaction, and photos disappear automatically after 24 hours.
The mirage of authenticity
BeReal may change the game of photo sharing, but not human nature. A portion of users will always try to sell an altered version of themselves for public acceptance regardless of the platform.
And that’s because the majority of humans care what other humans think about them.
There will always be a filter –no matter how big or small– between online and real life. Users can skip posting for a day if the time window matches an embarrassing moment. Or they can mask what they are doing by framing what they feel is up to par.
BeReal will also not eradicate the logic of comparison or the feeling that you are missing out on something: it will just reduce them.
There will always be some subconscious thinking that will lead people to compare what they are doing at that moment and what their acquaintances are doing.
Bottom Line
Social media’s incumbent players are trying to remain competitive, and for them, that means conforming to TikTok.
Revenues of the former Facebook Meta have declined year-over-year for the first time since it went public in 2012.
And this has prompted the company to twist the Instagram and Facebook feeds by favoring popular content over content from friends and acquaintances.
Mark Zuckerberg estimates the number of content users will see from strangers will double. A direction that moves away from the initial purpose of Facebook and Instagram, which originally aimed to keep people in touch with their circles.
On Instagram, Finstas –secondary accounts to share photos with a small circle of friends without the worry of judgments– are on the rise. In parallel, the younger generation rejects the artifactual appearances of filters or retouching.
BeReal wants to be the place for this. Users see it as a healthier and less “trapping” place than other social media. The description on the App store reads: “BeReal won’t make you famous,” in which case, it continues, “you can stay on TikTok and Instagram.”
BeReal will not solve the problem of online authenticity. Perhaps it will incentivize a move away from influencer culture.
What is certain is the only reality for detoxing from social media overexposure is only one: delete accounts or log off.
