The history of TikTok deserves a separate chapter. It emerged at the end of 2016, also known as Douyin in China, and is a social network with a great appeal among teenagers, and not so teenagers, today.
TikTok, which Musically bought in 2018, is a social network that could be compared to a mix between Vine and Snapchat , with which very short videos can be created, shared and discovered, ranging from 15 seconds in length to a maximum of 10 minutes . Videos in which young users can do practically anything and then edit them with the powerful tools that the app has.
The overwhelming success of this social network has caused others such as Instagram or Facebook tocopyadapted some of its dynamics and functions to try to replicate it. But TikTok has also done its thing, and a clear example of this is TikTok Now , an app that it launched in September 2022 and that clearly imitated BeReal. However, this did not last long, since in June 2023 its closure was announced due to the loss of interest of users in this format.
On the other hand, although TikTok is one of the most afghanistan number data popular social networks of the moment, this has not prevented it from sparking controversy or running into problems. The platform has been banned or restricted in several countries due to concerns about security and privacy reasons.
BeReal, a breath of fresh air among the posturing (2020)
In 2020, Alexis Barreyat, who worked as a video producer for GoPro and an independent iOS developer, launched this new social network based on naturalness. Its concept is simple: capture the spontaneity of the moment, escaping the posturing and artificiality that flood other platforms .
BeReal sends you a daily notification at random times asking you to upload a photo (taken from the app with the front and back cameras) before 2 minutes have passed. If the time is up, you can still upload the photo but it won't be considered as "real." Also, only if you upload a post will you be able to see your friends' posts . Since spring of this year, if you upload your photo within the time limit, the app allows you to post two more images that day.
In 2022, BeReal reached the pinnacle of its success, reaching 10 million daily users and leading the iOS app download charts in the US, UK and Spain, and occupying prominent positions in Italy and France.
Some brands have opted to create marketing strategies on this social network, but its limitations in terms of finding users and creating smaller and more private networks of followers have meant that this is not an attractive platform for promoting oneself .
Now, as seen in TikTok's decision with TikTok Now, this type of format seems to have run its course. Once the attraction of novelty has worn off, BeReal will have to continue developing to maintain the interest of its users .