It’s time to ‘be real’

How BeReal became the latest Gen Z trend

MEI FLORY / MANAGING EDITOR / THE USD VISTA

It’s not often that a new social media app takes the world by storm. It’s even rarer that the app remains popular for years to come. Among Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, BeReal may prove to be a new social media staple. 

BeReal, created by former GoPro employee Alexis Barreyat and released in late 2019, didn’t gain much attention until early 2022. The app skyrocketed to popularity, with a monthly active user increase of 315% since January, according to Apptopia.

BeReal sends a notification to its users once a day to take a live photo and post it within a two-minute time frame. The user can take both a front-facing and a back-facing picture with their phone camera. Only approved friends can view these posts, and users cannot see their friends’ posts unless they also post for themselves. This feature adds an extra sense of safety and comfort for users to post whatever they want. Once it’s time for the next daily post, each post is automatically saved to a user’s “memories,” which are only visible to the original poster. BeReal does not allow any photo editing but instead offers a behind-the-scenes look at people during their daily lives. 

USD first-year Katrina Zhang likes this aspect of the app. She thinks BeReal is more fun and less stressful compared to existing social media. 

“There’s no pressure to ‘be real’; it’s literally just what you’re doing in that moment. You can fake it and not post on time, but it’s the opportunity to post every day and just have no pressure,” Zhang said. 

Zhang believes the social media app is timely for Generation Z (Gen Z) because of the push for authenticity, rather than photo editing. She mentioned that Instagram, a social media app known for users’ heavily-edited posts, is also becoming more “casual” in terms of user content.

“Even Instagram is going toward the vibe where you post whatever. I think it will carry down to the younger Gen Z just because social media is very impactful in the sense where representation is more of a big thing now, and people want to see more of themselves in the media, but they don’t necessarily want to see the Photoshop,” she said. 

Not everyone is a fan, however. USD sophomore Angelus Almera shared why he didn’t hop on the BeReal trend. 

“I personally think it’s stupid. I find it to be like another chore, or something else that I need to keep up with,” he said. 

Almera doesn’t like the notifications BeReal sends its users to remind them to post. He still views BeReal as if it were any other social media, and it’s only popular because it’s just another social media trend for everyone to follow. Nevertheless, he predicted that it will continue to grow throughout the year. 

“I only have Instagram, because I just grew up with Instagram. But the way the trend is going, [BeReal] will blow up like TikTok. I don’t think it will be as powerful though, because it seems boring in comparison,” he said. 

Older generations are perplexed by how the app became so popular among younger users. Some articles point to the aftermath of COVID-19 as the reason. According to Forbes, the popularity of BeReal could be because “as life is returning to normal […] people could be excited by what was once mundane. It could also be that the constant flow of ‘perfect’ has lost its shine.” 

Like Forbes, USD senior JD Guirnalda also attributed the app’s popularity to the effects of COVID-19.

“I think perhaps because people are doing more activities now, with everything that went on during the pandemic, it would be pretty boring without something like this [BeReal],” he said.

Guirnalda believes BeReal offers a more intimate experience for social media users than other platforms. 

“I honestly think it’s popular because it provides an outlet for subtle flirtation. You send a photo reaction [to others’ posts], which is more intimate than commenting. I think that’s more genuine in that sense. I also like the randomness of the notifications, because you don’t know when the alerts will come in,” he said.

In the age where authenticity matters more than looking perfect, Guirnalda pointed out some downsides to how others may use the app. 

“I don’t like when people are not real, and they retake their BeReal or take it hours later after the notification. The point of the app is to ‘be real’ with your friends, because that’s who you should be able to be yourself around,” he explained.  

If the user wants to retake the photo, their friends can see how many times the photo was retaken. Friends can also see when the BeReal post is taken ‘late,’ meaning that it was taken any time after the two-minute window users have to post their picture. Taking the BeReal photo multiple times or waiting to post until an event defeats the purpose of the app, which is to post what’s happening at the given moment, regardless of how boring” the moment may seem.

Though it may be too soon to tell if BeReal is here to stay, those who have the app are happy with it, and those who skipped out don’t feel like they’re missing much. In any case, BeReal is simply about ‘living in the moment.