Week4 Group7 Discussion 1&2

Members:
ZHU Jingxian, Kimberly
GAO Yixin, Joy
Huang Yiting
WANG You

BeReal (from 2020)

"BeReal sends a notification at a random time to all of its users worldwide. After this notification is sent out, individuals have two minutes to photograph what they are doing using the back camera of their phones. At the same time, the app takes a picture using the individual’s front camera and posts the two photos overlaid on one another. The app also notes whether a user posted their BeReal on time — so everyone can see who is “lying” to them regarding the time they took the BeReal. There are no photo filters available, and the amount of times the photos are retaken is shared."

Let’s “Be Real” About BeReal - Business Review at Berkeley

 

ERRC

• Eliminate:
• Social media features
• Filter&editing
• Stranger interaction
• History saving
• Following
• Advertisement
• Reduce
• Flexibility to post (Bereal controls the time-to-post of users instead of letting users decide when to post by themselves; when posting photos, users can only take photos at that moment instead of picking photos from their albums)
• Information load
• Raise
• Privacy
• Easy to use
• Authenticity
• User Engagement
• Close relationship maintenance
• Create
• Novelty/Fun
• Participation requirement (users can't see friends' posts before posting on the day)
• Dual camera

 

Porter's Five Forces

• Competitive Rivalry
• Mainstream social media platforms (e.g., TikTok, Instagram) have released similar features
• Supplier Power
• Not applicable (only funded by various VC firms)
• Buyer Power
• Gen Z
• Threat of Substitution
• Other providers have launched similar features. In July 2022, Instagram launched a "Dual Camera" feature similar to BeReal, and in August 2022 it began testing a feature called "IG Candid Challenges", where users are prompted to post once a day within two minutes. As of September 2022, TikTok has also launched a feature called TikTok Now, following the same concept.
• Users have many options and they could quickly switch to other platforms if they like.
• Threat of New Entry
• May easily be taken place because BeReal's features can be easily copied, and there are barely strong entry barriers.