Time to BeReal

Almost every social media platform allows the same affordances to users when they post a picture: They can choose exactly which image to post, edit it and apply filters before selecting the perfect time to make it public.

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These platforms, like Instagram, allow for users to build their follower base into the millions, become influencers and post content for anyone to see. However, a new social media app was recently developed with the promise of doing something completely different.

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“Time to BeReal: 2 mins left to capture a BeReal and see what your friends are up to!”  the app chimes.

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BeReal is a social media platform where once a day at a random time every user is prompted to take a picture using their front and back camera within a two minute window of time. The app was founded in 2020 and is currently number one on the Apple app store charts for social networking. With no filters and no editing allowed, the concept is simple: Take a picture wherever you are, no matter what you are doing and post it. 

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Madison Rickabaugh, a junior middle childhood education major, said she has enjoyed using the app so far. She uses social media, like BeReal, to stay connected with her friends that she doesn’t see very often.

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“I think it’s a really cool concept,” Rickabaugh said. “It doesn’t show [just] the highlights, it shows people’s daily, realistic life.”  

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Rickbaugh still uses Instagram despite disliking elements of the social media platform. She believes that the tradition of people only posting when they look good or are doing something fun needs to change. She also thinks that users need to take more responsibility when it comes to posting realistic pictures of themselves.

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“I think at one point in my life, [Instagram] did have a negative impact [on me],” Rickabaugh said. “I follow a lot of mental health accounts now, and I make it more about seeing my friends.” 

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Before she changed the way she used Instagram, Rickbaugh felt like people only painted themselves in a positive light online, and it often made her feel insecure.

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Evidence of people wanting a more authentic social media platform started in July 2022 after a petition called Make Instagram Instagram Again started circulating the Internet. The petition, created by influencer Tati Bruening, encouraged Instagram to go back to the basics of being just a photo sharing app that is used among friends.

As the petition gained attention, it was reposted by celebrities like Kylie Jenner. Today, it has over 300,000 signatures.

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“There’s no need to overcomplicate things, we just want to see when our friends post,” Bruening wrote in the petition. “The beauty of Instagram was that it was INSTANTaneous.”

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Andrew Peck, an assistant professor of strategic communications at Miami University, said the creation of a seemingly more authentic platform was a good business move for BeReal.

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“[Users] are fed up with how inauthentic, polished and filtered Instagram has become,” Peck said. “[BeReal] feels authentic and a little bit free of corporate influence.” 

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While BeReal seems trendy and different right now, Peck thinks it is difficult for social media apps to remain authentic and cool. As he put it, social media companies have to constantly keep running to keep up with the interest and demands of their audiences.

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“The concept of coolness is a moving target,” Peck said. “Once something becomes mainstream and there are more ads, [the app] becomes less cool.”

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Despite BeReal’s popularity, some social media users like Bayley Gilligan, a senior strategic communications major at Miami, have not downloaded the app. 

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Gilligan said he hasn't downloaded BeReal because he feels it infringes on his privacy, and it doesn’t seem like the app is as authentic and earth-shattering as it is made out to be.

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“I thought the app was a lot more close-knit, but I’ve noticed how many people that my friends have added on the app,” Gilligan said. “I personally don’t care to see what everyone is doing and how that compares to my life at that moment.” 

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Despite not using BeReal, Gilligan is still on other social platforms like Instagram and Twitter. While Gilligan said he doesn’t feel a lot of pressure to download the app, he does occasionally feel left out when the BeReal notification goes off everyday.

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“As soon as I came back to Oxford this fall, I immediately noticed that most of my friends had BeReal,” Gilligan said. “One of my roommates will say ‘Time to BeReal,’ and they will stop what they are doing to take the picture.”

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The concept of the app going off once a day, causing some people to stop what they’re doing, has become the butt of many jokes. A recent Saturday Night Live skit even joked that someone would stop in the middle of a bank robbery if their BeReal notification were to go off. 

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Ron Becker, a professor of media and communication at Miami, agreed with some of the sentiments shared by Gilligan. It wasn’t shocking to him that people have begun to want a more authentic social media experience, but he wouldn’t say that BeReal is authentic, because he thinks people will always find a way to filter and frame their life. 

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“The camera itself is offering a version of a representation of your reality that is not the same as your authentic complex life,” Becker said. “Even if you're walking around and you're taking a photo when BeReal tells you, it's only capturing part of the environment that you're in at that moment. It's only probably capturing part of your clothing. It’s only getting one angle of you.”

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Because BeReal has features that show other users how many times someone retook their daily picture and how late after the two-minute time frame they posted it, Becker also finds BeReal to be intrusive. 

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“If the app works to make us respond to it whenever it signals to us to do something, that is a unique authority that is more intrusive than Instagram would be,” Becker said. 

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Despite these beliefs, Becker believes that there are pros to BeReal, like that it draws more attention to the fact that other social media apps encourage people to present a curated version of themselves. He said, however, that there is no foolproof way to stop people from curating their lives.

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“If you still want to look like you're having an exciting life, if that is really important to you and you're using BeReal, that could create a perverse incentive to constantly be having a good life,” Becker said. “That is an amazingly intrusive and manipulative aspect of it.”

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Considering the app is only two years old and newer still to most users, some people like Hannah Lewis, a senior strategic communications and arts management double major, wonder if BeReal will be able to stick to its original mission and values. 

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“I’m curious to see if BeReal will conform to other social media platforms, like if you are able to post videos or repost someone else’s BeReal,” Lewis said. 

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Something that Lewis has enjoyed about the app is the ability to privately view her old BeReals. She compared the concept of BeReal to a video she saw on Facebook where a man took a picture of himself every day for seven years. At the end, he had a picture archive of a significant part of his life.

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“It shows you that every day is something special,” Lewis said, “Even though the picture was taken a few months ago, it really makes you wonder where all the time went.”

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Regardless of whether or not BeReal is accomplishing its mission of authenticity, it is making waves throughout the world of social media. 

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TikTok recently introduced a feature called TikTok Now that imitates the concept of BeReal, but with video. According to the platform’s website, TikTok Now allows users to capture a short 10-second video or static photo once a day, simultaneously with other users, and share it with their friends. 

As the concept continues to grow and change, and some users continue to gravitate toward a more authentic social media landscape, people will have to wait and see if BeReal has the answers they are looking for.

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