009 - To BeReal or Not to BeReal?
BeReal emerged as Summer 2022’s favourite app. But what are the secrets to its success? What can it tell us about the future of social media? And where does this leave brands?
MØRNING misfits, it’s time to BeReal 😏.
Hailed as a ‘modern day Facebook’, this summer has seen BeReal and its double-shot snaps reach icon status. It’s been downloaded 28 million times - a fraction of IG’s 3.8 billion, granted, but pretty impressive given most of those are from this year alone.
Consulting a panel of BeReal-using 25 year olds, the sentiment was pretty universal:
Did they love it? Big yes. Did they think it would last? Nope. ‘By winter it will be boring’, apparently.
Ok, so maybe BeReal is Mr Right Now, not Mr Right. But it feels pretty telling that 2022 has seen the rise of an app with no videos, no chat function, no algorithm and no ads (yet).
With Instagram self-destructing, TikTok taking over, and Web 3 on the horizon, big change is afoot in digi-land. Thank god for BeReal. Haters will say it's a fad, but turns out there’s a lot this little app can tell us about the next era of our online lives, and how the hell brands should respond…
First up: Why BeReal, and why now?
Social media nostalgia
I think we can all agree that TikTok’s rise to dominance has felt pretty all-consuming. After a decade of Instagram-domination, Gen Z’s search for digital pastures-new has transformed pop culture and cemented short-form video as our new content type of choice.
But, far more than just a fun-video sharing app, TikTok is a vast bank of content with a powerful algorithm and search engine. Hot take: for the first time ever, TikTok has presented a new-Gen alternative to a text-based, Google-led internet.
…meaning, TikTok is huge, and kind of intense. Given we’re all feeling a bit overstimulated, there are some moments (emphasis on some) that you just wanna see what your friends are up to without being bombarded with Russian OAP’s dancing to post-punk.
Mundanity on BeReal vs certified chaos on TikTok
Plus, video content requires more effort to create than video. Even if you’re not doing any crazy edits, you still have to be saying something semi-interesting or looking particularly fire to warrant a full selfie-video. Sometimes a picture speaks a thousand words.
With everyone’s favourite photo app too busy scrambling to keep up with TikTok (lest we forget the greatest political movement of our time, MAKE INSTAGRAM INSTAGRAM AGAIN), it makes sense that we’d crave a new space outside of Stories to share inane, minimal-effort updates about our lives. BeReal, in all its simplicity, answers this need.
Serving realness
Talking of serving realness… BeReal’s irony isn’t lost on some. ‘IF EVERYONE’S REAL THEN NO ONE IS’ reads a headline on a TikTok, part of the meta (no, not in the way Zuckerberg would like) cross-app discourse that has become so common of late.
In essence: taking photos for BeReal, no matter how casual, is always going to carry some aspect of performance. And yes, users can choose whether they really BeReal, or if they wait until they’re doing something half-interesting to post.
But this is kind of besides the point: are we always fully candid IRL anyway?
Compared to Instagram, BeReal leaves a very slim opportunity for self-curation. A perfectly-messy photo dump can take hours to compose (guilty). A BeReal? Once you’ve decided to take it, 2 mins, baby. At a time when we’re all craving at least SOME authenticity, the posts you’ll find on BeReal are the closest you’ll get.
“I have a smaller group on it so I feel more comfortable having boring / unflattering photos”
“It’s often funny or ironic or embarrassing or whatever”
“I really like seeing what my friends actually do for a living”
20-something BeReal users
Social media clapback
So, people like BeReal because it’s less fake than Instagram, and not as high maintenance as TikTok. But let’s dig a little deeper.
BeReal’s more candid content hasn’t come from nowhere. Instead, it’s a gift bestowed to us by the algorithm gods who, for once, are having a day off.
While Insta, TikTok and Twitter all push users to be more conventionally attractive, more entertaining, funnier, more interesting, in order to gain views and likes. BeReal relies on our existing interest in our friends’ lives, and the lack of algorithm gives users genuine freedom to be as real (or not) as they’d like.
The lack of algorithm means BeReal, unlike TikTok and Insta, isn’t designed to keep you hooked. In its current form, it serves its users, not its advertisers.
Right, so what does this mean for the future?
Let’s get one thing straight: the rise of BeReal doesn’t mean we’re stepping into a pre-Instagram utopia where no one has screen addictions. But accusations that BeReal is a ‘gateway’ app that we’re only using to generate content for TikTok or Instagram aren’t true either.
BeReal’s popularity points to one clear truth: we don’t want our brains monopolised by one social media monolith, we want a range of social media platforms that work for us.
With loneliness on the rise, inclusivity at an all time high and peak individualism pushing us to consider what really makes us us, we’re seeing a collective learning-in to the unique things that ultimately unite us (be that cultural backgrounds or weird hobbies and interests).
As Web3 quickly develops, it’s those platforms that prioritise user ownership and management that will host different communities depending on their needs (see Reddit, Discord, new-Gen apps like Niche).
Plus, as our online lives get richer, switching between different apps for different functions will feel increasingly natural. Our posture might be doomed, but our thumbs are nimbler than ever.
With that, here’s to a more diverse, democratic social media landscape, and everyone staying in their lane (including you, Instagram).
And finally, what about brands?
Tempting as it is, chasing the latest social media fad doesn’t always pay off.
As we’re all painfully aware by now, consumers really do demand authenticity. This doesn’t mean using BeReal because it’s ‘real’ by nature. It means using social media platforms that make sense for your brand’s goals and the community you’re trying to build.
Don’t bother trying to recruit new customers on BeReal in its current form. There’s no ads and no way for people to find you. But if you have a loyal customer base and genuinely interesting BTS content, you can use BeReal to reinforce that relationship. (We’re all lonely and nothing feels real anymore, good content from familiar brands can be comforting). Think sneak peeks into the inner workings of your company (a la Motel Rocks), and offers and exclusives (see Elf Cosmetics) to entice audiences to follow you in the first instance.
The truth is, BeReal might not be for you. But consider the broader (and more important) lesson here:
Choose apps that marry with your voice and mission. Don’t try to force it if it doesn’t feel right.
Be wise, read the room, stay real 💋 x