BeReal: What is it and why should I be bothered?

In a sea of new social media apps that pop up, are all the rage, then disappear into the ether (*cough*, HOUSE PARTY, *cough), it can be hard to keep track of which apps to check out and which ones probably aren’t worth wasting your data on.

However, BeReal seems to be making waves with a completely unique approach to social media.

How does BeReal work?

When was the last time you scrolled through Instagram, TikTok or Facebook, and saw a post or photo that wasn’t staged, filtered to death or showing off some sort of holiday, amazing meal or unmissable moment?

Social media has, sometimes unhealthily, created a fantasy world where people only show the perfect moments and specially curated shots free from photobombers, skin blemishes or the actual quality of the food.

This is where BeReal changes that unhealthy social media falsehood.

Rather than posting at the prime moments, BeReal notifies you when it’s time to post. And it can come at any time. 

You and your friends receive a notification once a day, at random, and you have two minutes to post a photo or video of what’s happening at that exact moment. Skiing in the Alps? Get it posted. About to have a shower? Yep. Emotional breakdown imminent as you watch Titanic for thousandth time? Post that pic.

Breaking the trend

As you can see, this approach to social media makes it a little bit harder to dress up the social posts, meaning everything shared feels from ‘real’ (the clue’s in the name). No more dropping posts at the right time, no more hours spent putting on makeup or waiting for the right light – just real life, immediately, no matter what’s going on.

Yes, you can say no if you don’t fancy that mid-toilet-trip selfie, but that’s part of the fun. Who won’t find it hilarious when you snap a pic of your better half snoring on the sofa?

Will it last?

Well, it’s impossible to say that any social media platform will be more popular, less popular, or completely irrelevant in the near future (*cough* BEBO *cough), but the uniqueness and interesting spin that BeReal offers is different to the same-old we’ve seen repeated so many times before.

The real test will be whether BeReal will continue to be popular once the novelty of having to post in the two-minute window wears off, and what other features could come into play further down the line. Is there space for influencers, brands and any sort of relevant advertising? Or does the bucking-the-trend approach make BeReal a turn-off for brands that thrive off the fantasyland of Instagram et al?

But for now, it’s great fun and is a welcome break from the feeds packed full of unrealistic situations and digitally-manipulated pouts.