Viral app BeReal dubbed the ‘anti-Instagram.’
For so long, photo-sharing social media apps have begged the promise of perfectionism. Filters and photoshop present us with an impossible world; a world where everybody has clear skin, white teeth and a flat stomach, and everybody is constantly on holiday or enjoying nights out. Now, the new photo-sharing app ‘BeReal’ is abolishing these notions and asking people to show their authentic, unfiltered selves.
The concept of the app is simple. At a random time, every day, you will get a prompt notification to ‘BeReal’. You then have two minutes to snap a picture, which is taken with the front and back camera simultaneously. After you’ve taken your BeReal, you then get to see all of your friends’ ones.
The app launched in 2020, yet in 2022 it has increased in popularity by over 315 per cent, and has become one of the top ten most downloaded free social networking apps. It has received praise for bringing the authenticity back to social media, removing the pressures and reality distortions that are often associated with other platforms.
“I love the whole concept of it. No filters. No planning. It actually gives me motivation to try and make the most of my day,” says Design student Tyler Brasell.
“I love how it isn’t a ‘doom scroll,’ type of app. It’s fun and engaging but it isn’t addictive like most other social media platforms are. I also love that it is slowly improving everybody’s confidence. A year ago, there was no way I’d be posting a photo of myself in my pajamas without makeup on, but somehow BeReal makes it totally fun and non-threatening,” says student Lena Kaful.
“I like how it has thrown away the aggressive algorithms and the ‘you might like this most’ sort of thing that you get with other apps, and that content I see on it is fully controlled by myself, because I swear, I see more ‘personalized posts’ on Facebook and Instagram than the people/groups I actually follow,” says Massey graduate, Jack Warren.
Amid all the praises, BeReal has also received a large amount of concern and criticism regarding the safety of the app.
“By posting a time-stamped photo of yourself every day, the app is essentially building a profile on you and determining a pretty accurate routine consisting of where you are, who you’re with and what you’re doing. It can also allow people to see exactly where you took the photo, down to the very house you took it in. To me, this is quite scary,” says an online commenter.
“Because there [are] no filters and no monitoring of the photos posted, it is quite easy for children and adolescents to be exposed to inappropriate content. There are also no parental controls, which means that even I can’t monitor what my kids see,” says parent Katherine Jenson.
“The app has no advertising and influencer sponsorship, so I am worried that it is making its money through harvesting and selling people’s data, such as facial recognition,” says student Thomas Littman.
The age limit for the app is 13 years old and as a way of monitoring accounts and photos, the BeReal operators encourage everybody to report any inappropriate content.
“I don’t think it’s totally unsafe, but I don’t think it has as many privacy and security settings as other social media apps do. I think if you have your location sharing features turned off and you are only friends with the people you know, then it is quite safe to use,” Littman says.
For now, BeReal doesn’t pose any dangers that are not already associated with social media use, and it is arguably a far healthier alternative to other apps due to its filter free authenticity. However, it is still important to remain vigilant as the app progresses, as it still has a long way to go before it catches up with the popularity of Facebook and Instagram.