The notification arrives to all subscribers, once a day but at different times: after receiving it you have 2 minutes to share a photo. Not only: the app shoots from the front and rear cameras at the same time, to show together what is being framed and who is framing, and does not offer any photo editing tools. “What you see is what you get”, as they used to say online: what you see is what you get.
The app in question is called BeRealis a social network and is the social network of the moment among the young people of Generation Z, that is, people who are now 15-25 years old: since the beginning of the year, According to data from Apptopia, monthly active users grew by 315% and BeReal (which was developed in France and is also available in Italy) is currently the fourth most downloaded in the United States, Great Britain and France, immediately behind Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest.
Social network
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by Emanuele Capone
The reasons for BeReal’s success
Installed more than two million times in March alone, the app invites you to be true and spontaneous, as its name implies, and follows in the footsteps of TikTok a bit: content short, fast and made on the spot, without excessive preparation. Unlike what happens on Instagram, there are no filters to look more beautiful or to improve image quality. Also because the time available is short and there is only one occasion a day: once the two minutes available you can still post, but followers are informed that the photo was not shared at the moment. Furthermore, other people’s shots cannot be seen unless you share something, thus eliminating the annoying phenomenon of those who use social media only passively, spying on others without contributing.
These are the main reasons why BeReal is having successbut there are others too: the app asks for only one post a day, taking the pressure off users and somehow also freeing them from fomo anxiety (what’s this?); allows younger people to be spontaneous and does not require them to necessarily appear perfect or to show their own idealized and not real life, which is often a source of stress (especially on Instagram); has a friendly and witty approach that is also attracting the so-called Millennials, that is the 30-40 year olds of today.
google trends: the interest in BeReal in Italy in the last year
Dispo, the other alternative
An app that is following a similar path is Dispo (in Italy it is only available for iPhone): it always has to do with sharing images, and here too there is a condition to be respected. After taking the photo, you need to wait until 9 the next morning before you can post it. The process simulates what happened with the rolls of the past, and the idea is (again) to prevent excesses of perfectionism, use of filters, adaptations and adjustments. And especially hinder the phenomenon of compulsive posting and in bursts. In short, take it easy.
Initially accessible by invitation only and now open to everyone, Dispo is also very popular with people in their thirties and vintage lovers, for this very reason ancient process of shooting, developing, sharing with friends: in February and March of this year it placed first in the Photo & Video category of the American App Store and is firmly in the Top Ten in Brazil, Germany and Japan.
And it also begins to attract attention and generate profit: despite the sex scandal in which one of the founders, the youtuber, was involved in mid-March David Dobrik (forced to leave the board of the company), Dispo has collected $ 20 million in an investment round led by Spark Capital and is now valued at approximately $ 200 million.