BeReal crossed 50 Million downloads.

This new-age social media app is being loved by Gen-Z worldwide.

BeReal has 5 Million downloads in India too.

Developed by former Go Pro employee – Alexis Barreyat, and Kevin Perreau, the app has raised a $30 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz and Accel, in April 2022.

And $85 million in a funding round led by Yuri Milner’s DST Global in May 2022, increasing its valuation to about $600 million.

BeReal operates on the principles of authenticity and the moment.

Every day at a random moment, all app users are prompted to upload selfies and show the real themselves using the back camera.

Several articles report, BeReal is trying to move beyond the glamour world of Instagram and FOMO – essentially showing authentic and genuine lives instead of filtered ones as promoted on Instagram.

Like Meta, BeReal gained its first set of users via college campuses and has been operating in stealth mode since 2020.

The app became famous in 2022.

There are a lot of critiques, too, about how the app is essentially a copyable feature, and giants like Tiktok and Instagram have already started copying the feature.

To me, it seems like a movement – a trend which is signalling toward the new value system of the internet based on authenticity, transparency, and privacy – sharing more of the real imperfect you.

I believe this is why Clubhouse gained popularity – the audio rooms allowed for authenticity.

Yes, the live audio feature is now on Twitter and Linkedin too. And, Clubhouse has lost its growth and charm.

I still see a pattern here.

What are your thoughts? Have you tried BeReal?