BeReal was crowned Apple‘s iPhone 2022 App of the Year last week. The France-based application challenges the big players by bringing the social back to social media. These award-winning features, described by Apple CEO Tim Cook as “fresh, thoughtful and genuine”, also act as barriers to journalists and publishers utilising BeReal as a new platform to find an audience.
With over 53 million worldwide installs, BeReal has a large possible audience. Yet, publishers may struggle to gain a wide reach as an unknown limit exists on the number of friends a user is allowed to have. The few brand accounts that have trialled a BeReal launch, faced issues with the requirement for mutual following and encountered glitches when trying to add new friends.
Publishers and journalists would also have to consider how and what to post. Should they embrace the authenticity and post on time, or wait and deliver each of their friends a push notification signalling they have posted. Considering the possibilities of BeReal for publisher’s last month for What’s New in Publishing, Faisal Kalim suggested: “sharing behind-the-scenes content can help stoke engagement and build deeper connections.” This could also reflect a growing preference for personality driven journalism.