Stop what you’re doing! It’s time to Be Real! The new social media app, which forces users to be as authentic as possible, is a new concept that Patriots and users worldwide have been obsessing over. 

BeReal is a new social media app developed by French co-founders Alexis Barreyat and Kevin Perreau, who’ve been keeping it real since the app’s initial release in 2020. The concept behind the app is photo-sharing and only allows users to post once a day at a random time to show their followers what they are doing in real-time and to keep everything as authentic as possible.

 Everyone worldwide is tasked to take a picture within two minutes. After this period you can still post, however, followers will be able to see that you posted late. Likewise, if you retook a photo before posting it on the app, your followers, as well as worldwide users, will be able to see this too, and exactly how many retakes you took since it defeats the app’s purpose of being as authentic as possible.

What attracts users to the app is its intriguing strive to capture imperfection.  It is aimed to highlight the raw unfiltered moments of life that people are afraid of posting online without copious amounts of filters or Photoshop. The app has been built on a noble premise that’s driven many Gen Z’s to be obsessed with the app while leaving some wondering if the app is as authentic and healthy as it advertises. 

The promise of the app is authentic, and differentiating itself from typical social media sites like Snapchat, or Instagram has both driven users to the app while propelling away those who believe it’s just another regular social media site. Freshman Urielle Ngako, a BeReal novice, has been enjoying all the app’s festivities.  Joining the app only recently, Ngako said, “The app so far is fun, and it’s kind of fun to capture the BeReal at the right time because you’ll never catch my name as one of the people who were late; it’s like a social media game.”

Contrary people believe BeReal to be nothing more than another social media fad made to do nothing more than give users yet another reason to be on their phones all day waiting for a beReal post notification.  As seen in the app, users can comment, like, and share posts just as other social media sites like Facebook already allow, consequently defeating the app’s purpose of being an anomaly. Freshman Daniel Franca-Koh, an opponent of the app said, “BeReal is a good concept but it really doesn’t work well in execution. It’s just more of a reason to be on your phone, the app always crashes, too.” Franca-Koh echoes  concerns other critics of the app have, like senior Reign Nzang who said, “I barely use BeReal, the app is cool and all but it’s nothing special, I get the concept and all.”

Time will only tell if the BeReal app is here to stay, or if it’s just another internet fad the world obsesses over for a couple of weeks. However, for right now, members in the Patriot community have already flocked to the app to partake in keeping it real.

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