Be real.
Is it the next big thing you may have heard your gen Z or
other social media savvy friends talking about the be real app.
And today I wanna share a quick breakdown of what it's all about, what I love and
don't love about it and what I think needs to happen in order for it to
join the ranks of TikTok and Instagram.
So the app launched in France in 2020, but it really started to catch on in 2020.
In April of this year, the app was reported to have 2.93
million daily active users.
And in Q1 of 2022 data.ai ranked B real fourth in us, UK and French app downloads
right behind Instagram, Snapchat, and P trust on July 25th, 2022 B R reached the
number one spot for free apps on the iOS app store and stayed there for a few.
So the long story short, it's a friends focused social media app that
only allows you to post once per day.
All users are sent a push notification at a random time each day, and you're
given a two minute window to post a picture that is totally unfiltered,
unplanned and real as the name suggests.
B real uses both the front and back camera of your phone.
When you take a picture, meaning that you can't duck into a polished, beautiful
quarter of your house to pose for the photo or do any editing after you take it.
The point of the app is that you're capturing your real life.
In that moment.
For me, that's meant lots of pictures.
Me literally staring at the wall, working on my computer, having a couch day with
my heating pad and doing various other.
So thrilling things and that's exactly the point.
Unlike other social media apps that encourage us to curate our lives to
some degree, be real, ask us to show up exactly as we are in that moment.
It's set to friends only by default.
So I'm not worried about impressing the global public with my perfectly
airbrushed skin or super exciting life.
Instead, I'm just keeping up with people who I'm interested in and
chatting back and forth with.
Oh, and that's another interesting thing about be real as opposed to
Instagram or TikTok, where you can just leave a simple like or reaction,
which can sort of feel impersonal.
Be real actually requires you to either leave a comment or leave
a selfie style emoji reaction.
So let's talk about the pros.
Well, my favorite thing about be real of course, is the
real aspect users of the app.
Aren't inundated with Photoshop or unrealistic expectations.
Most of my friends on the app are doing the exact same things that
I'm doing, which makes me feel a lot less boring and a lot less alone.
I really think you get to know people on a different level when they're just.
Talking about things that they do in their daily life versus putting on a show.
And I've missed this level of social media connection back before creators
got paid before face tune and before everyone kind of felt the same.
The goal for me with be real is really just documentation.
It's a fun little photo diary to look back on and I'm not focused on educating,
impressing or entertaining by any means.
It's a huge relief.
Honestly, I was also hesitant to download another social media app right after I
just talked about how my social media dependency, if you will, was getting
a little bit out of hand and really messing with my mental health and my
sleep and other things in my life.
But the cool thing about be real is that since the algorithm isn't as addictive as
tos or Instagram, that two minute window where I get my notification to post is
usually the only time I'm scrolling.
It also helps that I only have like eight friends on there, but even
as that number grows, I don't see myself endlessly scrolling like I
do on Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok.
The cool thing is you don't have a public profile just in feed posts.
So even if I found someone I was really interested in, I wouldn't be able to
get lost in their backlog of posts for hours because I'm only seeing what's.
Being posted for a short period of time in my feed.
I also feel that helps with those feelings of having a perfect aesthetic
looking feed, which I do struggle with pretty much on any other social
platform, even YouTube, to be honest, the reactions are really interesting too.
I definitely get.
Far less likes and engagements than I do on platforms like
Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.
However, I'm actually talking to people on there, which is interesting.
One could argue that a comment or selfie style reaction is actually weighted
way heavier than a simple, like on Instagram, as it shows a real human
actually took the time to respond to me versus just robotically, liking something
they think is pretty or whatever.
Now for my concerns.
I don't know much about B Real's moderation strategy since the app
is so small and new, I doubt they've really had any huge incidents.
I haven't heard of anything, but I personally have had a couple of moments
where I was posting a, B real half asleep in bed and wondering, like, What
would happen if I accidentally posted something that I really didn't want
to, how fast would it get taken down?
Would people have screenshotted it and shared it already?
I mean, I guess that's kind of just on the user and could happen on any
platform, but, you know, seems like the risk is a little higher with this.
Time based pressure that be real puts on us.
I'm also super cautious about sharing my physical locations.
So the fact that be real only gives you two minutes to post.
Basically in real time is a little bit concerning for me.
I haven't traveled at all since using the app, but I personally don't
broadcast my travels in real time.
I always post after I'm back from my trip.
So that's something that does concern.
Be real.
Doesn't give you a choice of when you're gonna post.
Of course you don't have to post every day.
And that's probably what I'll do when I do travel.
I'll just ignore the posting notification.
But if you do wanna keep your be real streak going, it's kind of a bummer.
Okay.
So of course, we've gotta talk about monetization right now.
I'm just having fun with the app.
I'm really enjoying having a social media app that is just
meant to be silly and make weird faces and show my personal life.
Show me looking wild and natural and free, whatever I'm really enjoy.
But like any social media app, if they wanna scale, they need to figure out a way
to monetize I'm okay with letting be real estate in this awareness and engagement
phase for a while before they start asking for money from advertisers or trying
to pay creators or anything like that.
But I also know that the tation of the world, as I call it has
made people kind of impatient.
People today want huge results.
They want huge fame.
They want huge payouts.
And I'm not sure there are a ton of people out there who want
social media, just for leisure.
I don't know.
Maybe I'm wrong.
Let me know in the comments, what you think and if this is appealing
to you at all, because I'm here for social media, for friends and fun.
Oh.
And the app has apparently.
30 million in series a funding.
So I'm sure that their investors wanna return sooner rather than later two.
Now for my marketers and social media managers out there who are
wondering how they can start using B RIL and get ahead of the trend.
Well, the bad news for you is that you kind of can't B R's
terms of service state that.
Users must agree not to use, be real for advertising or commercial
purposes to publish or facilitate the transmission of advertising
commercial solicitations, spam chain letters, pyramid schemes, or to collect
information, data, or content about other users without their permission.
In other words, you can't use B real to sell.
At least not yet, but if you're a personal brand, you can
start getting to know the app.
You can start building a deeper connection with your audience and letting
them see a more personal side of you.
Most of the people on my be real are real life friends, but I do have a couple
of people who are just subscribers.
And I think it's cool that they're seeing this more personal side of me.
This arguably is building a closer relationship between us and as we
know, people love to buy from people and even more so from people that
they like or that they connect with.
One could argue that this is making it easier to sell on other platforms
to people who follow me on be real.
So my tips, well, I really don't have any tips other than be yourself.
Be real show, different sides of you that people might not know about.
You already be engaging, talk to people that you follow.
Don't be afraid to be silly and just have fun with it.
We'll see where the app goes, but I'm really enjoying the break from constant
business content, hustle, hustle, grind, vertical video, loud noises, competition.
It's exhausting.
And I'm ready for more human social media app.
What about you?