Seriously, BeReal

Trendy new teen social media app gains popularity

by Isabella Baricelli, Staff Writer

Created to “encourage authenticity,” the latest social media app, “BeReal,” has earned worldwide attention in a matter of days.

It is a French social media platform that, as of today, has completely changed the game for Americans. Different and entertaining, BeReal calls itself “the simplest photo sharing app,” where fancy filters are not allowed and being an “influencer,” is nonexistent. In this new app, people can’t get famous; the content posted is deleted after 24 hours, and there is no such thing as “followers” or “likes.” More importantly, it can’t become a “job” because there is no way to monetize the content.

BeReal is a new, creative and original way to share daily activities, privately or publicly, in the discovery tab. The way it works is fairly easy: every day, people receive a notification where they have two minutes to post a photo that essentially shows what they are doing exactly at that time, regardless of how they look, what they are doing, or who they are with.

Additionally, one of the main characteristics is that the app captures pictures from the phone’s front and back cameras to create one image that shows both views, front and back. After the two minutes end, late posts are allowed, but if people do not post a picture at all, then they can’t see their friend’s new posts.

BeReal (Isabel Andjell)

Once the post is uploaded, the users can react to any of their friend’s posts with a comment or “realmoji”- an instant photo reaction that stays on their feed until the post is deleted. Most common pictures include those laying in bed, watching TV, at school with friends, and doing other random tasks.

It is uncertain if BeReal will blow up like TikTok, but the novelty, as of now, continues to draw new users.