BeReal has become the most downloaded app in the United States

Far from the logic of likes, reels and followers, the French app BeRealalso called “Social of honest photos”, became the most downloaded free application on the American App Store in July. Two years after its launch, it counts today about 30 million users, has raised a total of $ 115 million in investments and is valued at $ 600 million. According to the experts of the specialized site Platformerdriving its recent boom is precisely the so-called tiktokization of Instagramwhich led Meta’s social network to imitate its Chinese rival more and more, raising strong criticism from many of its users, even among the most famous.

Launched in early 2020 as a kind of antidote to Instagram style, it invites users to post only one photo per day, during a random time signaled by a notification. Since that time, users have two minutes to take and publish their content, which consists of a front photo and a selfie, taken simultaneously by the camera. If you post after two minutes have elapsed, your photos are tagged as “late” and you can’t see friends’ posts unless you post first, a system called post to viewalso used in the past by Facebook for the Slingshot messaging app.

The platform is therefore specifically designed to discourageinfluencer building typical of traditional social media and the same developers of the app claim that “BeReal will not make you famous“. The goal of the social network is in fact to share one’s life with friends, while it is happening, without filters, post production, sponsorships or likes. Indeed, the only way you can interact with other users’ photos is to take a selfie (or rather, a double photo taken with the front and rear camera of the smartphone) that will be shared with the other person.

So, while Instagram and TikTok compete to grab more and more content creatorBeReal puts into practice the teachings of other successful social networks to attract new users, imposing a creative constraint like the 140 characters of Twitter or the six seconds of Vine. Furthermore, the app points to a return to intimacy and the proximity of users, showing only the content shared by friends. In this way, it breaks down the social pressure imposed by Instagram or other social networks, which tend to show a glossy and perfect world and to make those who cannot share a life up to the standards required by the feed feel at fault.