Check Out BeReal, The Social Media App That Is Taking On Instagram’s “Toxic Positivity”

Social media platforms like Instagram started out with great intentions. It aimed to provide people a sneak peek into a quasi-digital life that users would curate for themselves. Instead, it has become a mishmash of toxic positivity, and, well, all things fake. There is no semblance of authenticity in most social media platforms.

BeReal New Social Media App Takes On Instagram's Toxic Positivity

This is why several social media companies start out that focus on authenticity, that have no space for those heavily photoshopped images, or those dub smash videos which have filters upon filters being applied to them. One such platform is BeReal, which, in a couple of years since its inception, has grown consistently.

BeReal New Social Media App Takes On Instagram's Toxic Positivity

The way the app works is, that it asks users to post raw glimpses of their everyday lives during a constantly changing 2-minute window each day. Posts come in the form of photos, which include snapshots taken simultaneously from a phone’s front-facing and back-facing cameras.

Also, unless you post, you will not be able to see what your friends have posted, which in a way coerces you to participate. Founded by a former GoPro employee, Alexis Barreyat, what this does is force people into posting and seeing what real life actually looks like on social media.

Although the app does not offer a lot in terms of new technology, the app stands out due to its functionality. Where other social media platforms force people to curate the best of their lives, which in turn means that the feed that people see, is not just one post after the other that shows people living their perfect lives. This goes a long way to dispel the phenomenon that has come to be known as toxic positivity.

BeReal New Social Media App Takes On Instagram's Toxic Positivity

“You can see a whole other side to people that aren’t just their presentable side to social media,” said Alexis Barreyat. “It gets really tiring and exhausting for people constantly like scrolling through Instagram and seeing people having these perfect lives,” he added.

BeReal New Social Media App Takes On Instagram's Toxic Positivity

And if their numbers are anything to go by, people, especially Gen-Z surely do appreciate what the social media platform is going for. Since January of this year, daily downloads of the app have grown by 315 per cent. Since April 1st, the app has been one of the top 10 most downloaded free social networking apps for iPhones nearly every day.



from Firstpost Tech Latest News https://ift.tt/FeSqbsT

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Elon Musk’s bid spotlights Twitter’s unique role in public discourse – and what changes might be in store

Twitter has been in the news a lot lately, albeit for the wrong reasons. Its stock growth has languished and the platform itself has largely remained the same since its founding in 2006. On April 14, 2022, Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, made an offer to buy Twitter and take the public company private. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission , Musk stated, “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.” As a researcher of social media platforms , I find that Musk’s potential ownership of Twitter and his stated reasons for buying the company raise important issues. Those issues stem from the nature of the social media platform and what sets it apart from others. What makes Twitter unique Twitter occupies a unique niche. Its short chunks of text and threading foster real-time conversations among thousands of people, which
Read more

To reach net-zero emissions and remove CO2 from the air, scientists drawn up six priorities

Image
To reach net-zero emissions by 2050, global emissions must be cut faster and deeper than the world has yet managed. But even then, some hard-to-treat sources of pollution – in aviation, agriculture and cement making – may linger for longer than we would like. It will take time for clean alternatives to arrive and replace them. That means the world also needs to find and ramp up ways of taking CO₂ out of the atmosphere to stabilise the climate. Just meeting the UK’s net-zero target is likely to require the removal of 100 million tonnes of CO₂ a year , similar in size to current emissions from the country’s largest-emitting sector, road transport, but in reverse. The UK government’s announcement of £31.5 million (US$44.7 million) in support for research and development of carbon removal is welcome. And while trials of new tech will help, there are many social issues that need to be tackled if removing greenhouse gases is to succeed. Done right, carbon removal could be the perfect a
Read more

NASA is planning to partner with SpaceX to reboost the Hubble Telescope and extend its life

Image
The Hubble Space Telescope is one of the most important scientific achievements of the human species that has helped us understand space. It has been in orbit for over 30 years and has been feeding some of the most vital streams of information that has not only helped us steer our space exploration efforts, but also solve some of the more deep mysteries of the universe . NASA would love to extend its usable life for as long as possible. Unfortunately, for some years now, Hubble Space Telescope has been slipping out of its orbit. That is why, NASA is planning to team up with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and place it into a higher much more stable orbit. NASA, SpaceX and Jared Isaacman, a private astronaut with the Polaris Program, hosted a media teleconference on Thursday to announce a feasibility study that will look into sending a commercial Dragon spacecraft to reboost the Hubble Space Telescope . This will, in effect place the telescope into a higher and more stable orbit than it’s curren
Read more