The French application BeReal is currently a hit in the United States. Users share their lives without filters, for better or for worse!
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BeReal, the French application released in 2020, has been all the rage on the American market in recent months.
Why is it the anti-Instagram?
It has the vocation to be “the anti-Instagram”: no filter, no stories and impossible to become an “influencer”. The concept is simple. Once during the day, at a random time, the user receives a notification prompting them to take a photo that triggers the back and front camera of their phone. He has two minutes to take these photos and then discover those of his friends. The photos will disappear on the next notification.
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The app sat in first place on the US Apple Store for three days in early July. As of July 19, BeReal had 20 million downloads across Android and iOS, according to mobile Sensor Tower). A success especially among young people who find a way to divert the principle of the application by challenging their friends. On TikTok, many users share the ideas they had to “pimp” BeReal time with friends or how they pretend to have an exciting life. The #bereal has 593 million views.
Some users slip up
The concept appeals to young people so much that they eagerly await the notification of the day. So much so that when it appears at an event, they don’t hesitate to share it around them, like at a recent Harry Styles concert or at festivals. On vacation, they do not hesitate to ask a stranger to take their picture to have a memory of the photographer when the front camera is triggered. The goal is to be as funny and unexpected as possible.
While some advocate the return to nature, which changes traditional networks, by challenging their friends to take the most fun photos possible, others can sometimes go too far. On TikTok, users have fun sharing their “unusual” BeReals, during a funeral, in the shower or even during the last moments of their pet. A rather extreme choice especially when you know that it is possible to post your photo several hours after having received the notification.
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A resurgence in popularity
In France, the trend was starting to run out of steam. But since the application is all the rage in the United States, it is likely to take off again. It is in particular thanks to TikTok and the hijackings carried out by certain users that BeReal is regaining popularity. There are so many users that the app has many bugs due to many people wanting to post at the same time.
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