Be ready for BeReal: Popular social media app asks for daily photos at any time, any place

CANTON, Mo. — Social media nowadays is full of edited and filtered photos. People spend their time making changes to their appearance or removing objects in the background to get the best picture they can.

That doesn’t happen on BeReal.

BeReal, founded in 2020 by French former GoPro employee Alexis Barreyat, sends its users one notification a day, requesting that they take a picture wherever they are. When the person opens the app, they will have two minutes to take a picture. BeReal uses both of the smartphone’s cameras, capturing the user’s face as well as whatever they are looking at.

If a person misses the notification and posts their daily picture late, BeReal will tell people how late it was posted. Only when a photo is posted can people view other posts for that day, leaving comments and reactions.

The Washington Post reported earlier this year that BeReal has spiked to more than 56 million downloads.

Opinions about BeReal are divided. Many say they enjoy the app, while others view it as harmful.

“I feel like it goes a step beyond other social media, because it adds the pressure that you have to post,” said Lexi Tekell, a student studying history education at Culver-Stockton College.

Requiring users to post their own photo before seeing anyone else’s photo encourages people to take their photo as soon as they can — which can cause problems.

“There’s a case still unfolding,” said Kelli Stiles, an associate professor of psychology at Culver-Stockton. “The person took the photo [and] didn’t pay attention to what was in the background. There was private, legal, confidential information.”

Since BeReal has people posting photos without time to edit them, accidents like this can happen. It just takes one click to post something you didn’t even realize was behind you or on the table in front of you. This makes BeReal a risk to use when working with sensitive information. Like all social media, there are risks when considering future job opportunities.

Robin Jarvis, director of career and internship services at Culver-Stockton, says people should be mindful when posting on social media, even if you think the post will be gone within a day. Red solo cups, parties and politically aligned posts are a few things employers may look out for when researching potential employees.

“It’s so easy for people to take screenshots,” Jarvis said. “Whatever you put out there can come back at you at some point in your life, in either a good way or a negative way.”

Many of BeReal’s users believe they are using the app in a positive way, despite the dangers that come with using social media. Morgan Frankenhoff, a student studying graphic design at C-SC, likes that BeReal offers a platform that doesn’t require scrolling through content for long.

“You can’t really be on it for several hours a day like other social media,” she said.

BeReal is supposed to be simple. Your picture gets posted, and then you can see other people’s pictures. It has no ads or celebrity content that can be seen unless they are added as a friend. It’s a way for people to show their friends what they do in their daily lives.

Some people get their BeReal notification and decide to wait to take their picture until they are in a better location. People often wait until they are better dressed or at a formal event. Some worry that the point of the app is lost when people refuse to “be real” and wait to take their photo at a certain event rather than posting whenever they get the notification. Others believe nothing is wrong with this.

“I can understand being excited about a certain event, like if you’re going to go out to celebrate a birthday party and you want to get the birthday person in the picture,”  said Cassie Williams, who is studying musical theatre at Culver-Stockton. “It’s not … always going to be showing the best part (of your life), just the best part of your day.”

Like all social media, BeReal has its pros and its cons. It can be enjoyed safely, even when it sends a notification at inconvenient times.

“I’ve seen it actually interrupt class time,” Stiles said. “So I just … photobomb (their photo) if they’re trying to sneakily do that.”

Noah Klauser is a Quincy native and a Culver-Stockton College student serving as an intern for Muddy River News during the spring semester.