The success of BeReal: a social network against Instagram posturing

Gone is the posturing, showing only what you want people to see of you: perfect bodies, appetizing foods, wonderful jobs and clothes that not even the Kardashians themselves could imagine.

Now that the

app has invented the exposure of authenticity on social media, Instagram audience engagement rates with the social network are starting to drop.

What is known as

the hooking of people and their willingness to publish content on social networks, has decreased by 44% compared to 2019 in terms of uploading posts (photos and videos) on Instagram, according to a study carried out by Later that analyzed 81 million publications of the app.

And so?

Now it goes like this: you're so calm preparing food, for example, and BeReal (Be real) sends you a notification: it's your turn to post.

And here is the grace (or misfortune, depending on how you look at it): you have to put on the network whatever is happening at that moment.

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This anti-posturing app was created in France in 2020, but it hasn't hit the ground running until now.

To the point of being at number three of the 10 best applications recommended by the App Store.

BeReal seeks the real.

The food that is repeated day after day in the office cafeteria, which has nothing in common with DiverXo, photos in the gym with spurts of sweat, photos with double chin, no double chin, with dirty hair, clean...

And here's another grace:

If, for whatever reason, it is not met, the user will not be able to see images of other users for a few hours of penalty.

Is it possible to anticipate the call and create a photogenic portrait?

No. The calls are random.

They do not have an expected frequency, so it is impossible to anticipate them.

This forces to show the reality of each user.

“BeReal's proposal had to be groundbreaking, because otherwise it would be very difficult to compete with the giants.

It has turned everything that was working as a social network of reference, such as Instagram or TikTok, on its head, and it offers us something that goes against everything that other platforms lead us to do”, analyzes Ferran Lalueza, professor of the Information and Communication Sciences Studies of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC).

It has turned everything that was working on Instagram or TikTok upside down

Ferran Lalueza (UOC)

And what do users say?

Andrea Pérez is 24 years old and downloaded the app a few months ago on the recommendation of her friends.

She doesn't even use Instagram anymore.

«BeReal shows reality.

Instead, right now Instagram is based on uploading a photo for your followers to comment and like, and if you don't have enough comments or

, you worry.

The most important thing is to use the filter that makes you look prettier.

It's surreal."

The problem, according to Olaya Turbón, a health psychologist specialized in Emotional Well-being and the Application of New Technologies, lies in the self-esteem and expectations of each one, not in social networks: «The problem comes from not knowing how to manage this use of technology well , not of the app as such, but of what ways we use it, of the use and time that we dedicate to the platforms».

Tubón considers that the networks exacerbate the problems of people with low self-esteem: «There are people who at certain times are in a situation of vulnerability

.

But the problem is not the networks, they are just a megaphone that exaggerates self-esteem problems.

Is BeReal going in the opposite direction?

Does it encourage us to escape from the idea of ​​perfection that other applications impose?

«It is an app that I like a lot, its very name indicates it, it forces us to be real.

You don't have to dress up or put on make-up.

It doesn't feel like it has to be done.

I would recommend it for its naturalness, because

anyone's

, something that can affect a lot if the expected ones are not received, "says Andrea Pérez.

And she is not the only one who thinks so.

"The same contempt that a teenager has, for example, for Facebook, they can end up having for other networks that we now consider to be in trend and that can go out of style very quickly," adds Ferran Lalueza.

In his opinion, there are three palpable differences between this new app and the rest: one would be the random nature of the image that is shared, despite the fact that the user can be "very farsighted and have a scene prepared."

With BeReal and with

, «the room for maneuver you have is very small and that is an important element of differentiation with Instagram, a site where everything is increasingly prepared, staged, staged and filtered» .

If we think that reality is what Instagram shows us, we come to the conclusion that our life is unfortunate

The second difference is the inability to use filters.

The last one: you can only see the content of other users when you share your own content that day.

“It is quite revolutionary because

We see content from others but we are not always encouraged to create content and share it.

There is a radical equity principle here that compels you to create content.”

For this reason, a large part of adolescents turn to BeReal to find a piece of reality that does not harm them, that helps them develop their emotional intelligence.

"Other networks end up generating a feeling of discouragement or even depression because the reading you end up doing is that everyone has a fantastic life except you," reflects Lalueza.

And he continues: «If we think that reality is what Instagram shows us, we come to the conclusion that our life is unfortunate.

And putting us in the exercise of being all in the same conditions and taking us to

and realistic exercise, because it separates us from the idea that we all have a wonderful life except us.

So that the technological world does not end up governing the user's emotions, the Turbón psychologist recommends "controlling the use we give to the platforms, analyzing whether after using social networks we feel better or worse".

If the latter happens, "it will probably take some time to detox, reconnect with well-being and then maybe consider using it again without causing us the problems we've already been through."

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