Carolin Rusell Dezala
Contributing Writer
In the past year, BeReal has become a new social media platform sensation. Developed by Alexis Barreyar and Kevin Perneau, BeReal is an app whose main feature is a daily notification for users to share a picture of themselves and their surroundings within a two-minute time frame. This prompts their users to “Be Real.”
The app was initially released in the App Store and Google Play in 2020 but gained notoriety in early to mid-2022 among high school and college-aged youth.
But lately, BeReal has become a point of conversation with the addition of certain features that their audience is not keen on. BeReal’s core features include the mentioned daily notifications and pictures taken by the front and lateral cameras simultaneously.
In early January, the app introduced the “RealGroups” feature where the users can create a group chat and have a BeReal notification go off either once or twice a week. The BeReal Help Center is described as ¨providing a special space for you to connect with your friends and family.” And beyond that, a new live feature was also added where users can see five seconds of what they were doing before taking their BeReal. Furthermore, they added a streak feature, where users can see how many BeReals in a row they have posted.
But BeReal has recently been under the line of fire of its users because of a particular update this past February.
On Feb. 1, the BeReal social media and marketing teams started a social media campaign promoting celebrities, and on Feb. 3, they announced on an Instagram reel that they had a big announcement coming on Tuesday, Feb. 6.
On Feb. 6, the newest BeReal feature was revealed to be RealCelebrities. Now, celebrities, influencers and brands are on the app.
The feature works differently depending on the celebrity on the app but what remains constant is the dislike that the BeReal users have felt for the app.
At the time of the announcement, many took to social media to express their feeling with some Instagram users commenting “You’re becoming everything you set off to destroy” and “Petition to bring the old BeReal back.”
Most of the population on BeReal are GenZers and college-age students. The East Stroudsburg University student body is very keen on the app, but when asked about the updates they shared the same sentiments that the Instagram users shared.
“I think it’s stupid. Like, I don’t get it,” stated Kovii LaBar, a sophomore majoring in art/media/design. “The whole point of BeReal is to… Be real. Celebrities and brands are NOT being real.”
Aliyah Williams, a senior English Major agreed with LaBar, “I don’t like it because I think BeReal should be a personalized social media app. As far as marketing, there is a benefit, but from the user perspective I do not see it.”
Both Williams and LaBar expressed that they use BeReal in a constant base, but that the latest updates have been smoldering the essence of what made BeReal real.