The best BeReal of Caroline Ridge’s summer happened last Thursday, at a Syracuse University resident advisor training. During a demonstration of what would happen in the event of a dorm fire, the app’s daily notification — “It’s time to BeReal” — pinged. Ridge said the alert went off right as the demonstrative fire began, making for an ideal daily snapshot.

“That was the best thing, I thought it was crazy,” Ridge said. “I was like, ‘perfect timing for the BeReal’ because everyone’s gonna want to see this.’”

Ridge is a sophomore studying political science and policy studies. She decided to download BeReal because of her sister — hearing her everyday refrain of “it’s BeReal time,” Ridge said she didn’t want to miss out on the experience of the app.

As a platform, BeReal keeps it simple. The app sends users a daily random alert to take a photo (automatically using their front and back cameras) of whatever they’re doing at that moment, which is what prompted Ridge’s sister to talk about the daily notification. Users have the choice to post within the 2-minute window of the app’s notification to be “on time” or they can post a late BeReal if they missed the initial notification. However, users can’t see what their friends posted on the app until they’ve taken their BeReal first, so to get a view of others’ lives, engagement is required.

BeReal rose to fame as the unfiltered social media app, as it provides users with an authentic look into one moment of their friends’ daily lives. The app launched in 2020, though it didn’t gain traction until earlier this year. BeReal’s slogan, “your friends for real” is described by users as an antithesis to Instagram: a social media app with no filters, editing, or like counts.

“I like the spontaneity of it,” Meg Bisson, a senior studying psychology, said. “It tries to break that stereotypical social media aspect of editing and posing and Photoshop and whatnot. And it’s more, just — everybody’s just doing everyday things.”

Bisson downloaded the app this summer after several friends said they enjoyed using it. She said the lack of pressure to post an aesthetic photo makes the user experience funnier and more laidback.

BeReal has provided an outlet for students to stay connected with their friends this summer, but in a way that’s more authentic than Instagram. Bisson said, because it sets the focus on the little moments of daily life, like brushing your teeth or going to the doctor, the platform is more intimate than other social media sites. Alekhya Rajasekaran, a sophomore studying biotechnology, expressed similar sentiments, and also said that for her, the app cultivates a closer relationship with the friends she has on it.

“Even though there are not necessarily any words spoken, you’re kind of all doing the same thing at the same exact time. And that in itself is a deeper bond,” she said.

And while BeReal is good at capturing life’s little moments, it can also capture the big ones, too. Rajasekaran said the best BeReal of her summer was taken on a trip to Monterey, California. She was at the harbor watching seals when the app’s notification went off. Rajasekaran said she was able to capture the moment of being up close to the seals, which made for a more interesting BeReal than being in the car or her room.

Another way to get creative with the app is to take photos of things that aren’t yourself, as Bisson did. For her favorite BeReal of the summer, Bisson took a front and back photo of her dog. What she didn’t expect was the way her friends would react to the photo, as the app allows friends to respond to users’ BeReals with photo reactions of their own.

“A couple of other people responded with pictures of their dogs,” Bisson said. “It was like BeReal, but for dogs. It was so cute!”

Like with any social media platform, though, there are some drawbacks to BeReal. For Luke Elliott, a public relations and CCE sophomore, the app became a source of stress for him. Elliott, who often keeps his phone on Do Not Disturb, frequently missed the daily notification, which caused his posts to be late.

Elliott’s stress over being late on the app is not unfounded. The virality of BeReal naturally lends itself to users on the Internet sparking discussion. On other platforms online, like TikTok and Instagram, Elliott saw others creating rules for the app, like how long is too long to delay a BeReal post or how many retakes are appropriate. Elliott said that, although the app is fun to use with friends or to be in other people’s BeReals, the lack of control over when users have to post was a source of stress for him.

“I do like the idea of putting out pictures,” Elliott said, “But at the same time, all of these expectations that people have created for BeReal, I almost feel like, I’m judged not on what I post, but how I use the app. That is what made it so stressful for me.”

Overwhelmingly, however, students are excited to use BeReal this year. Bisson is eager to capture highlights from her senior year, including Halloween in the fall and her graduation in the spring. Rajasekaran wants to get BeReals of her in class and at the Duke basketball game, while Ridge is looking forward to taking photos at her fraternity formal and date nights. Being able to capture the big and small moments of the year, and see other users’ daily lives too, is ultimately what students feel BeReal is the best for.

Published on August 22, 2022 at 12:18 am