"No way, no way. Inside this feed there's only different worlds from mine."

This lyric hails from the song 'Instagram,' capturing the sentiment that social media nowadays often make people feel empty, and even depressed. According to a recent survey conducted by the Department of Information Technology Management students, users' overall perceptions of social media were neutral, but these users were acutely aware of its rather toxic elements, such as how reality can be misrepresented. ​



 

With these problems in mind, many social media users yearn for truthful and authentic social spaces. Answering the call for better social media experiences, a groundbreaking platform is emerging, garnering huge success in America and Europe. 'BeReal,' this innovative app sends a daily notification prompting users to snap and upload a picture within two minutes. Reporter Kim took the plunge, testing the app for a month, and is eager to share her insights as a newbie user.

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Q1. What are the positive aspects of BeReal?

A1. KIM: It was great to record my everyday life with non-filtered pictures. It was also fun to see my friends' real lives and share moments of empathy. Instead of the typical 'like' that we can find on Instagram and other SNS apps, BeReal's 'RealMoji' is crafted from the user's face picture. This allowed me to better express my feelings when reacting to others' posts. The good thing about this feature is that it doesn't show counts of the reaction. This made me feel much less pressured and it was fun just to focus on my friends' RealMojies. Another positive aspect was the absence of advertising and random posts from strangers, meaning I didn't waste time on distracting content.

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Q2. What are the negative aspects of BeReal?

A2. KIM: As all I could see on my feed were the daily real pictures of a few friends of mine, despite it saving my time and energy, it sometimes felt a bit monotonous. Another drawback was that when taking pictures through BeReal, it activates both sides of the camera-front and back. Although I could see what was on my back lens while capturing a shot, I couldn't preview how my face looked on the front lens. This sometimes resulted in a weird facial picture due to lens abstraction, which made me hesitate to upload the first picture taken by BeReal. Even though my followers are all close friends, the ingrained habit of caring about others' perceptions lingered. When BeReal's notification sounded when I was still lying in the afternoon, I often put off uploading my pictures as I didn't feel like showing my lazy mode to others.

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Photo by Shutterstock, mundissima

BeReal has undergone recent updates, enhancing its versatility and functionality. The introduction of 'RealGroups' now allows users to create chat rooms, where they can write messages or share photos. In addition, BeReal has added its BTS (Behind the Scenes) function, which captures a few seconds of footage just before users snap their daily picture. In the ever-evolving landscape of new social media, we seem to be spoiled for choice however it's important to reflect on how we can actually be happy within our virtual society.

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Reporter,

Eunkyeul Kim

kyeul@g.seoultech.ac.kr

Reporter 김은결

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• e-mail : kyeul@g.seoultech.ac.kr