'A Teaspoon of Authenticity': Exploring How Young Adults BeReal on Social Media

BeReal is the latest social media platform to tout itself as a more authentic space for connection. The app notifies users at a random time each day and gives users two minutes to post an image from their smartphone's front- and back-facing cameras. While prior work has theorized authenticity on social media and studied how various user populations enact authenticity, more research is needed to understand whether and how specific design features afford authenticity. We conducted a walkthrough of the BeReal app and interviewed 31 young adults about their experiences on BeReal. We found that participants approached authenticity in two ways—as extemporaneous interaction and as comprehensive self-presentation—and that BeReal harnesses the affordances of visibility, editability, availability, and persistence in a way that enables the former more than the latter. Based on our findings, we offer four recommendations for designers and researchers who seek to support authenticity online.