BeReal is a social media platform that rapidly gained popularity during this summer. It is an app where you take a picture with your front and back camera once a day. BeReal is meant to be a more genuine form of social media.

“On Instagram … you have to post certain pictures and they have to look good because everybody sees them,” senior Emma Nuernberger said. “I feel like on BeReal you can just do whatever you want and nobody really cares.” BeReal stands out when compared to other social media platforms because of how easy it is to show genuine snapshots of the users’ daily lives with no editing. 

“You can’t like put a filter over it and you can’t edit it before you post it or anything. It’s just the real, raw image,” said sophomore Lily Leesmann. “I think it became so popular because it’s just another form of small social media where you can’t use filters or anything. It’s not fake.” With the randomly timed notifications of BeReal, which varies daily, many of its users post late. Posting late can be an excuse for being ingenuine with posts on the app. 

“I know people that will like wait until they look good and then they will take the photos,” said senior Emma McCary. 

Despite the app’s original purpose, the majority of people believe that users aren’t as genuine as the app intended them to be.

“I think on average, most people are really fake when it comes to BeReal. I think that’s fine because when it comes to truly being real, a lot of us pretend to be somebody else,” said junior Mia Narup. Despite the potential of ingenuine posts, there are many aspects that are unique to the app that its users enjoy. 

“My favorite part is that everybody gets it at the same time. So like at tennis yesterday we all got it while we were at a tennis match and we all did it with the coach,” said Leesmann. Many of BeReal users have compared it to Instagram, which has become a more formal social media platform. BeReal has been refreshing to people as it is a lot more carefree, with less pressure than Instagram.

“I get to control who sees it, so if I’m absolutely sloshing some wings, I’m not going to post that on my Instagram,” said Narup. “If BeReal goes off and I know that there’s going to be 12 people who see me do that, I’m fine, I don’t care.”

BeReal is a lot more selective when it comes to friends unlike Instagram, this is leading people to feel less judged on social media. 

“On apps like Instagram, I know a lot of people feel like they have to look super good,” said McCary. “I feel like that’s kind of the point of social media now, but I like that BeReal isn’t like that.”