[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #798: Can the BeReal app change social media reality for the better?

[OPLIN OPLIN]

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.
<http://www.oplin.org/4cast/>
[image: OPLIN 4Cast]

OPLIN 4Cast #798: Can the BeReal app change social media reality for the
better?
April 13th, 2022

[image: Chained hands breaking apart, with BeReal logo] It seems its only
been a minute since TikTok came on the scene and skyrocketed to popularity
with younger demographics. (Not just a minute; it has been around since
2016.) There's a new kid in town, and the niche BeReal is attempting to
fill is definitely unique. It sits in a place in the cultural zeitgeist
that is anti-Instagram, anti-social media. No filters, no photo editing
and, most interestingly, no pre-planning. The BeReal app is already gaining
significant traction on college campuses and with GenZ. Will it shift the
conversation around social media entirely?

   -
   - Gen Z’s new favorite app
   <https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/rising-social-app-bereal-is-gaining-momentum-with-downloads-up-315-this-y/621929/>
   [Axios] "In a push toward authenticity, the app snaps photos from the
   phone's front and back cameras simultaneously, showing where you are and
   what you’re doing at the same time. Because users have to send posts within
   two minutes of getting a randomly-timed notification, they don't have time
   to make fancy adjustments. Also, the app doesn't include any photo editing
   tools."
   - Rising Social App BeReal is Gaining Momentum, with Downloads Up 315%
   This Year
   <https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/rising-social-app-bereal-is-gaining-momentum-with-downloads-up-315-this-y/621929/>
   [Social Media Today]
   <https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/rising-social-app-bereal-is-gaining-momentum-with-downloads-up-315-this-y/621929/>
   "As you can see, BeReal’s momentum is increasing, and while we’re only
   talking about the low millions right now (BeReal has been installed 7.41
   million times to date), that chart is on a sharp incline, which points to
   the desire for more honest, raw depictions of people’s real life
   experiences, away from the airbrushed, edited, background warped photos
   that have become the norm in many of the top apps."
   - BeReal Isn’t Real and Makes Everyone Look Extremely Boring
   <https://www.vice.com/en/article/4awm5b/bereal-isnt-real-and-makes-everyone-look-extremely-boring>[Vice]
   "I have been using BeReal for three weeks now, and it’s fun because it is
   ever so slightly different than the other apps and interesting enough that
   I have not yet deleted it. It is not, however, "real" in any sense of the
   word. If Instagram has the problem of making people's lives look
   artificially glamorous, BeReal has the problem of making people's lives
   look extremely (EXTREMELY) boring."
   - What is the BeReal app and why is everyone suddenly using it?
   <https://thetab.com/uk/2022/04/04/bereal-app-social-media-what-is-it-two-minutes-to-take-a-photo-245955>[The
   Tab] "It’s pretty similar to Snapchat in the sense that you can quickly
   take pictures and send them off. But the difference is that it’s only one
   daily photo which disappears the next time the app notifies you to take a
   new one the day after. Plus the notification to post can come at literally
   any moment and it only allows you two minutes to post something. It gets
   even more savage though because your followers can even see how many
   retakes you did and even get notified if you post something late."

*From the Ohio Web Library <http://ohioweblibrary.org>:*

   - New Social Media App BeReal Is Trending at Colleges as 'Casual
   Instagram'
   <https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=155998875&site=ehost-live>
   (Wanna, C. (2022). New Social Media App BeReal Is Trending at Colleges as
   “Casual Instagram.” *Bloomberg.Com*, N.PAG)
   - What is BeReal? Why the social media app all about authenticity is
   skyrocketing
   <https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=2W62751253212&site=ehost-live>
   (Rush, M. (2022, April 6). What is BeReal? Why the social media app all
   about authenticity is skyrocketing. *Charlotte Observer, The (NC)*.)
   - The Benefits of Being Yourself Online
   <https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sch&AN=149830946&site=ehost-live>
   (Bailey, E. R., & Matz, S. (2021). The Benefits of Being Yourself
Online. *Scientific
   American Mind*, *32*(3), 11.)

------------------------------
The *OPLIN 4cast* is a weekly compilation of recent headlines, topics, and
trends that could impact public libraries. You can subscribe to it in a
variety of ways, such as:

   - *RSS feed.* You can receive the OPLIN 4cast via RSS feed by
   subscribing to the following URL:
   http://www.oplin.org/4cast/index.php/?feed=rss2.
   - *E-mail.* You can have the OPLIN 4cast delivered via e-mail (a'la
   OPLINlist and OPLINtech) by subscribing to the 4cast mailing list at
   http://lists.oplin.org/mailman/listinfo/OPLIN4cast.

© 2022 Ohio Public Library Information Network
[image: Find us on Slideshare] <http://www.slideshare.net/oplin>  [image:
Find us on Facebook] <http://www.facebook.com/oplin.org>  [image: Find us
on Google+] <https://plus.google.com/107751358238995507967>  [image: Find
us on Twitter] <http://www.twitter.com/oplin>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.oplin.org/pipermail/oplin4cast/attachments/20220413/253b2735/attachment.htm>