PHOTO SHARING APP WITH NO FILTERS A MAJOR SUCCESS
Can an app that asks you to share photos without filters become successful in today’s age where filters are the norm?
It seems like it. BeReal was developed by French entrepreneurs and launched two years ago.
It prompts all its users worldwide, and at the same time, to take a photo of what they’re busy with at that moment and share it on the app. Users are only given two minutes to share their photos and the app uses front and rear-facing cameras on users’ phones.
Several studies have been conducted by researchers about the popularity of the app and why it’s being embraced by so many.
“The idea of BeReal is you are just in a moment – where are you and what are you doing right now,” says Jennifer Stromer-Galley, a professor at Syracruse University school of information studies in the United States.
“Our lived lives, not our best lives – maybe you are walking the dog or in your pyjamas eating cereal.”
News24 reports that it was the most downloaded app in the United State at the start of September, and ranked among the top three in Britain and France, according to figures provided by market tracker Data.ai.
According to Data.ai’s figures, BeReal has been downloaded nearly 35 million times worldwide and is proving popular with Gen Z, born between the late 1990s and about 2010.
Image credit: Today