French app with "spontaneous snapshots" challenges "Instagram filters"

BeReal, a social network launched by two Frenchmen two years ago, is witnessing an increasing demand, as it focuses on the spontaneous nature of images, in contrast to the festiveness in Instagram photos, and is based on the user taking a self-portrait of himself and the place he is in at a certain time of the day that differs in each Once.

Users receive a daily notification alerting them that they have two minutes to open the app and take a picture of where they are.

Their friends can react to the post with a like, a surprised emoji, or a happy face.

The “Discovery” page displays images of application users randomly, one of which shows, for example, a pool match, while in another it appears the checkout box in a fast food restaurant, and in a third image a video clip is shown on a computer.

The application, which was launched in 2020, has achieved great success a few months ago, specifically among the millennial generation, the generation that includes those born between the end of the nineties of the last century and the beginning of the first decade of the twenty-first century.

Figures provided by the specialized company "data.ai" indicate that the application has been downloaded about 35 million times.

At the beginning of September, BeReal was the most downloaded application on phones in the United States (on iOS and Google Play), while it emerged among the first three applications downloaded in France and Britain.

Despite the app's popularity, the French startup that designed it did not open the door to contact it, and its officials did not give any interviews to the media.

At the request of AFP, B-Rail sent a brief document with information on how the app works.

The personal pages of the application's founders, Alexis Barria and Kevin Biro on LinkedIn, show that they are graduates of the 42nd College of Information Programming, founded and funded by billionaire Xavier Niel, and that they are amateurs of extreme sports.

The specialized "Business Insider" website indicates that a new IPO round in May allowed B-Real to raise an additional $85 million, making the company's value reach $600 million.

Kima Ventures fund manager Jean de la Rochebrochard notes that the app came up with Alexis Parrilla while filming tests aimed at demonstrating the effectiveness of GoPro cameras on mountain bikes.

"While Paria was living the moments at the time, he was surprised to see so many social media stars detailing what they were experiencing by posting countless ephemeral photos and posts using dozens of filters and missing out on the show entirely," Rochbruchard wrote on his blog.

Carolina Milanesi of Creative Strategies points out that the reason behind turning to BeReal is that users need credibility because they are tired of flawless images on apps like Instagram.

She adds that "users of social networking sites are tired of images that do not reflect real life."

And she continues, "The application represents for millennials a fertile space for their desire to show their personality and the realistic details of their life and way of living."

It remains to be seen whether the app's popularity will continue in the long term or will be temporal, according to Jennifer Strömer-Galeh, a professor at Syracuse University's School of Information (in upstate New York).

"There is no obvious reason to stay in the application other than to peek at other people's life activities," she says.

The app also raises questions about managing users' private lives.

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