by Brittany Flood, Comms Planning Trainee
BeReal is the latest social network to have taken the world (and more importantly our Edinburgh office) by storm. For those of you who haven’t yet been captivated by the addictive new phenomenon, BeReal presents a unique concept where you only have to use it once a day – great for those of us who don’t want that big commitment but still want to feel part of the latest trends. At a random time each day the notification comes through to…you guessed it “BeReal” – where you take a quick snap of whatever you’re doing at that moment with your back camera and your reaction to it with your front camera. Now I know what you’re thinking… what if I’m busy and miss the notification? What if I’m not doing anything interesting? Well firstly you are allowed to post late, but it will say on your post how late you are. Secondly you have to post your own in order to see other peoples’ which again acts as further incentive to do it no matter if what you’re doing is interesting or not! This is essentially the whole point of BeReal, it’s not just about the exciting aspects of life – we already have Instagram for that – BeReal serves to give a taste of the everyday, one that exists without the pressure to look perfect or even appear interesting; an ever appealing notion in this day and age.
Though it was launched in 2020, it has only been over the summer of 2022 that it has seen a rapid increase in popularity – which is around the time that I (and several million other people) decided to download it. It is undoubtedly dominated by Gen Z, with near 80% of its users under 25 in some countries[1]. This aligns with what we know about this generation prioritising authenticity and wanting to break out of the ‘filtered’ portrayal of life that dominated early social media use[2]. This therefore begs the question as to how BeReal fits into an office life with such a varied age range. I think the answer to this is that it has become more than just sharing what you’re doing at any given time, but something that has been slowly embedded into the office culture. Though I’ve pretty much convinced half the office to join it, those who haven’t yet succumbed are still involved in the office BeReal moment. It’s something we can look forward to; a fun moment that we can share both with each other and with our other friends. With hybrid working meaning that everyone is in the office at different times, having each other on BeReal can allow us to still feel connected in a more fun and casual way than just an email. This becomes even better when someone is on holiday or at an event – everyday is different and I think that’s what makes us keep coming back for that daily snap. No matter age or level of seniority, those of us within the Edinburgh office can’t seem to get enough.
Though this is something that I am utterly obsessed with currently, I along with my fellow Gen Z’s have been known to have a pretty short attention span, so could this be just the latest phase that we’ll get bored of within a few years or even months? Is BeReal really built to last? In terms of popularity, it doesn’t seem likely considering it’s only used for a very short time every day (ideal for that short attention span). However, when it comes to longevity, with such little time spent on the app itself, it doesn’t provide a great potential for advertising as and when the app eventually gets to the stage where it can no longer sustain itself without finding a way to monetise. Leveraging this audience could also end up contradicting the foundations on which the app is built – to remain authentic. If brands were able to advertise, it could potentially be a great opportunity to showcase their own authenticity, engaging in a more ‘real’ way and building genuine connections with their audience. It remains to be seen if BeReal will find a way to develop such an opportunity without losing their ever-growing number of users, or if it will die a similar death to Vine which once played an equally important part in my life and is now but a distant memory…
[1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/08/29/inside-rise-bereal-gen-zs-new-favourite-app/
[2] https://www.marketingcharts.com/demographics-and-audiences-119371
