With every form of social media in modern-day society primarily being based on what a person wants others to see, it can get difficult for everyone just to be real sometimes. Apps such as Instagram and Snapchat are overly emphasized with filters and effects and excessively not posting the truth behind a picture. As a result, Alexis Barreyat and Kevin Perreau released a social media app called BeReal completely based on being yourself and overall being authentic online. BeReal was released initially in 2020 but only rapidly began to gain popularity around the summer of 2022.
Once a day, the application sends out a notification telling users that they have three minutes to post a picture of themselves; if not, all of their friends will get a notification that they posted late. The camera takes a picture of you from the front camera and then quickly switches and takes a picture of your surroundings from your back camera. It is the overall concept of “being real” since it allows others to view more than a person's face, and unlike Instagram or Snapchat, allows people to view beyond that point.
During the summer of 2022, BeReal started to gain a huge amount of popularity, and with that came a variety of trends.
Many of the app users, along with posting about their everyday life, like to use these BeReal notifications while doing exciting activities like riding a rollercoaster or looking at a fascinating view; the ideas are endless. Several famous people and influencers have hopped on the BeReal bandwagon.
This app’s whole purpose is to take away from the face tune, the heavily edited photos, and the mindset of needing to please other people with a platform that is supposed to please you. It is a rejuvenating concept to get away from the fabricated conception of social media and just post one thing a day that represents you and your life. No matter if this picture is boring, sad, funny, or plain, everyone still did everything right because they were being real.
Section Editor: Erna Kocharyan
Editor-in-Chief: Nensi Hayotsyan
