It’s Time to BeReal: BeReal and Information Cascades
For those who are unfamiliar with the app, BeReal is one that is advertised as being focused on “authenticity.” There has been increased attention surrounding the app, leading to a substantial increase in number of people that have been flocking over to the app to see what the hype is all about. The app essentially prompts users to post genuine glimpses of their normal, everyday lives during a brief two-minute interval of time that changes each day. The posts showcase snapshots taken from both the front and back-facing cameras and are then viewable by a user’s friends. One other interesting feature is that a user is unable to see what their friends have posted until they end up uploading their own.
The app is unique in that it marks a subtle shift in the use for social media. Whereas before social media networks such as Facebook were marketed with the focus on connection and engagement with users across the globe, internet behavior seems to be drifting away into more shared or private online experiences. With BeReal, users are more interested in connecting with friends and family rather than random strangers.
With this, information cascades can be seen to occur in a few different ways. For one, other social media networks are considering the increased popularity of BeReal and using its features to influence aspects of their experiences as well. In other words, information cascades may be an explanation for the “imitation” of these features in the technological choices of certain social media companies. For example, Instagram recently announced a feature called “Dual” that allows users to take a photo using both front and back cameras on a phone simultaneously. As a result of this, Instagram can easily, in the future, potentially adopt a similar model to BeReal. Even if they don’t completely understand for BeReal’s popularity, they may wonder whether BeReal has information that they don’t, making their interface more popular amongst young users.
Another example of information cascades is reflected by the increased usage of the app and continued downloads of the app in recent months, especially among younger generations. Due to the increased interest in something that is “less staged” and more inclusive in terms that the app doesn’t require large amounts of time, effort, and investment, people have been herding towards the app. This can be shown through this situation described below.
Let’s say a college student A saw post on TikTok with the #BeReal hashtag and decided to download the app, but seeing that none of their friends were yet on the app, they persuade a friend (college student B) to download the app with them. Essentially, as student A made the choice to use/download the app, it was likely that student A’s friend, student B was influenced to download the app as well. With this, student B can continue to influence their other friends to join the app, allowing more and more users to infiltrate the app as they also end up influencing their circle of friends. However, this cascade also has the potential of falling apart as a student could refuse to download the app, siting negative externalities of bugs and frequent crashes. This could end up ending the cascades, highlighting how fragile they are. With this, it remains to be seen whether BeReal will be able to survive in an already growing and somewhat saturated market of social media networks.
BeReal Exploded in Popularity. But Is the App Here to Stay? | Time