In 2022, it looks like BeReal was the app of the moment(opens in new tab)Founded in 2020 by French entrepreneurs Alexis Barreyat and Kévin Perreau, the app has been a success.(opens in new tab) Reached over 50 million downloads last year(opens in new tab) Winning iPhone App of the Year by October(opens in new tab)Other social apps were desperate to replicate BeReal’s premise. keep doing so(opens in new tab).
But BeReal’s instability was quickly acknowledged online(opens in new tab), that too. For one thing, “authenticity” and social media are naturally at odds. Another reason was that BeReal came along at a time when people were fed up with other community-based apps for that very reason. As Mashable’s Elena Cavender wrote in her December, this gave the app an innate “novelty” feel, but its usage ultimately mimicked that of other content-based social apps. evolved to. “BeReals has become the new version of selfies. People are eager to get her memorable BeReals with concerts and celebrities,” she wrote. “It became a new way to go viral on other, more profitable platforms.”
This is just one of the reasons many users skip BeReal’s daily notifications or abandon the app altogether.(opens in new tab).
At its peak in September 2022, BeReal reached 12 million monthly downloads. It dropped to 3.3 million in January this year, according to data from Business of Apps.(opens in new tab) and atopia(opens in new tab)Perhaps more suggestive is the drop in daily active users. This number has almost halved.(opens in new tab)where there were 20 million daily users in October 2022, and now there are 10.4 million.
Amber hasn’t stopped using BeReal entirely, but her use has waned as a result of the app’s very foundation. That is, asking people to document what they are doing, the truth, and the moment.
“BeReal said, ‘Hey, hey, look what I’m doing now!’ , because we don’t really think we’re made to see ourselves as people, let alone want To see what others are doing when you’re not with us, including our friends. ”
How much are we shape-shifting across social media?
She’s not the only one. Many users like Amber still use the app, but not as much as they used to. Kayla says she uses the app “sporadically,” but occasionally pops in to connect with her friends.
“I miss a lot of the days, but I use it to check in on close friends I don’t usually talk to, like friends from college, friends I’ve left, people like that,” she said. she says.
Another former active, Meg, says she hasn’t used it much since the summer.
Meg’s woes — one directed at the lack of motility and diversity in her daily posts — are shared.Aryaman says she stopped using it after seeing so little engagement. “There aren’t many conversations that start based on someone’s work screen and a cup of coffee,” he says.
Other reasons for not using apps range from the frustration of daily notifications to ‘too many different social apps to keep track of’. However, in the majority he rejected BeReal, citing the pressure BeReal poses. As previously mentioned, the app’s promises of authenticity have been controversial from the start. However, users recognize that they don’t always use his two-minute window set by BeReal for posting and are waiting for the moment when something more exciting or photo-worthy is happening. .
“There was a lot of social pressure to post things that weren’t real,” says Michael, who was once an avid user of the app. “This app can help you show off that you have a richer lifestyle or pattern, but realistically that’s not always the case.”
Amelie feels the same way, telling Mashable: Rohan also says:
These criticisms of BeReal are not specific to the app, and resemble all the counter-arguments directed at social media at large. The only difference is that BeReal is positioned as an alternative to Instagram’s glossy images and TikTok’s commoditized content. Apps have naturally changed as a result of ingrained behavior and enduring habits on social media.
All this is not to say that BeReal has become trivial. The app was valued at about $600 million in October(opens in new tab)The fact that other apps are trying to imitate BeReal is also a testament to the fact that the startup was on to something, whether it was the time slots it offered for posts or the dual-camera concoction it offered.
What’s more, many people who still use this app even say it’s one of their favorite apps. Some of these users perceive BeReal as a kind of journal, or a way to record their daily life in just a few seconds.
“It’s kind of like a little diary to keep track of your days. Sophia also says she likes to go back in time and see what she’s been up to for months.
BeReal’s Decline, Temporary Or Not(opens in new tab), underscores the great dissatisfaction with apps, influencers and glorified content of all kinds. All of them may require some reinvention. It’s unclear what this will look like for BeReal.
Mashable has reached out to BeReal for a statement.
