BeReal, an app focused on authenticity, is on the rise

“You can see a whole other side of people and not just the likable side of them on social media,” says Errin Mathieson, 21, a university student in Dundee, Scotland. , a university student in Dundee, Scotland. a few weeks ago. “It’s really exhausting and exhausting for people who are constantly scrolling through Instagram and seeing people have this perfect life.”

The organic growth it is enjoying is helped by millions of dollars in investment and the growing hype surrounding the app. BeReal has obtained Positive headlines in reviews and recently raised $30 million in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, one of the largest venture capital firms. And as Apptopia pointed out, the French company has been actively promoting itself on colleges across the US through a campus ambassador program in which representatives are said to be recruiting with Free drinks and events.

However, it’s easy to doubt the hype surrounding the app.

In previous years, viral apps like Vero and Peach saw rapid growth that didn’t last. By comparison, however, BeReal’s growth has been growing at a relatively steady rate and not accelerating at all, according to data provided by Apptopia.

Tegan Sullivan, 23, considers himself an early adopter of the app.

“When I first joined in January, there was no one on board. It was me and me and my friend got me in,” she said. “Now I think I have about 30 friends on it.”

“It’s so much more normal in that way, it almost feels like there’s no expectation that you’re doing something fun,” she says.

Sullivan said the pressure of traditional social networking has become exhausted.

“You take pictures and then you spend three days editing them and then you have to post it at that peak time,” she explains of Instagram. “And BeReal, it’s like going back to that idea, if you just click on it and post it.”

Social media analyst Matt Navarra says that Mathieson and Sullivan’s observations are consistent with a larger trend in young people looking for “authenticity” in their social media experiences.

“There is this change in the way social media apps are used, what people want from social media apps, especially the younger generations,” he said. “There is an interest in something more authentic and less staged, and that really doesn’t require a large amount of investment to join or become a member of.”

While the app is in line with what’s desired at the moment, he doubts that BeReal can turn current consumer interest into a long-term audience.

“I would be very surprised if it took place over a period of a year,” he said. “Like previous viral apps, they can fail for a number of different reasons.”

Navarra says the main reason BeReal might be struggling is that its core product isn’t all that exciting.

“After a while you see the same people working at their desks or lying in the park and walking to the pier – it doesn’t last long, it doesn’t get you hooked. ”

In order to survive the present moment, Navarra said, he expects to see innovation at BeReal soon.

“It needs to attract more people. It needs to give people more functions and features in it. It needs to create an environment to provide space for advertisers to do what they need to do,” he said. “You showed us a trick, now what else do you have for us?”

at Blogtuan.info – Source: nbcnews.com – Read the original article here