BeReal: is social media already becoming a meteor?

Last year’s most popular social network is already becoming a meteor: where have you been BeReal? The app that conquered the last year award as best in the App Store according to Apple and dominated the charts, now it’s losing in popularity. Is there still a future for this social network without filters?

Is BeReal becoming a meteor?

Born in France only in 2021, BeReal wanted to give an alternative to the many photographic social networks that populate the web. Subscribers have a window of just two minutes in which to take a picture to share with followers, using the front and rear camera.

A way to get rid of the filters and cover poses of other social media such as Instagram, to focus instead on spontaneity. An idea that was hugely successful: over 70 million downloads in the last few months of last year, long becoming the most downloaded app in the App Store. And also convincing investors, given that more than 60 million dollars of funding has arrived.

This year, however, the data is not as impressive. In 2023, only 16 million downloads, coming to the number 120 on the App Store chart in America.

In Italy, the application is still going strong: right now is sixth in the Italian App Store. But many experts – like Repubblica here – already see a waning trajectory like Clubhouse recently, but also Vine or Periscope years ago.

A lack of popularity that even mature companies risk come Twitter e Pinterest, whereas TikTok, YouTube and apps by Meta (Instagram and Facebook) always seems to grow. Although he has the reputation of a “boomer”, Facebook in particular, it has two billion active users and generates more traffic than any other online platform.

In the last few years, only TikTok has been able to enter the domain of Meta and Google. But perhaps it is too early to say goodbye to BeReal: the social network must transform itself from a novelty into a platform used by everyone. The next few months will be essential to understand this.