BeReal is a fairly new social media app that has gained popularity amongst the Woodside community over the course of the past few months. This app hopes to make social media a little bit more casual and a little bit less stressful, as people at times worry about every little detail of how they look when posting to Instagram, TikTok, etc.
A notification will pop up saying “Time to BeReal” during a random part of the day, 2 minutes are given to take a picture of what you are doing at that time and place, and share with the rest of your friends. Once a post is uploaded, others’ posts will appear, but if you don’t post, then you will see nothing but a blurry screen.
“It’s more real because it’s just a random time of the day and more casual than other apps,” sophomore Evan Chad said.
This idea of casual posting draws positive attention in the Woodside community and is something that only BeReal offers in comparison to other social media platforms.
Many people find it very fun to try and take the picture on time, right when the notification comes out so that you are not late and you are contributing to the quick and casual atmosphere BeReal is creating.
“Everybody just takes their photo at that time, everyone does it at the same time, and it is just kind of cool to see what people are doing,” Bogyo said.
It would not be uncommon for BeReal to lose popularity over the summer and start a decline like other social media apps such as Vine, Friendster, and MySpace, stirring up conversation about what will soon happen to the app.
“I think it might fade out during the summer because people will be on their phone a little less,” Bogyo said.
Others disagree and think BeReal will continue its upward trend in popularity.
“I think people are going to be using it way more during the summer, because everyday I go on, [and] there are more and more people on the app and I can tell BeReal is growing,” junior Charles Connolly said.
Some Woodside students are still unaware of what BeReal is, but are enthusiastic about giving another social media app a shot.
“It sounds pretty cool… I would be interested in downloading it for sure,” sophomore Hugo Gallegos said.
