{"id":12000,"date":"2025-04-10T20:12:57","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T20:12:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/?p=12000"},"modified":"2025-04-10T20:12:57","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T20:12:57","slug":"are-you-being-real","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/2025\/04\/10\/are-you-being-real\/","title":{"rendered":"Are you being real?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n Annika Pinch, Floor Fiers, Jeremy Birnholtz, Justine Fisher, and Brigid Reilly, <\/span>“New Media & Society,” \u2018Is It Time for Me to Be Authentic?\u2019 Understanding, Performing, and Evaluating Authenticity on BeReal.<\/em>,<\/a><\/span> 2024<\/span><\/div>\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Image by Jordyn Wald.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTime to BeReal<\/a>. 2 mins left to capture a BeReal and see what your friends are up to!\u201d This is the daily notification users receive on BeReal, an app designed to promote authenticity by prompting users to share unfiltered photos from both the front and back cameras at a random time every day. BeReal attempts to constrain users to post within a 2-minute window with zero retakes, but many users circumvent these constraints by delaying posts or retaking their photos. The one caveat? If a user chooses to retake photos, they are labeled as “retakes” and your followers can see this label. So, how \u201creal\u201d are users truly being?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through a series of interviews with BeReal users, Annika Pinch<\/a> and colleagues set out to understand how young adults perceive and define their own authenticity on BeReal over time, as well as how they assess the authenticity of others on the app. BeReal was initially understood<\/strong> by participants as a refreshing alternative to highly curated social media platforms, encouraging authenticity through its posting constraints. However, over time<\/em>, participants began to observe a shift toward performative <\/strong>behaviors, mirroring patterns seen on other platforms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>For example, participants would actively resist BeReal\u2019s constraints of posting within a 2-minute window by delaying posts to capture more interesting moments in their day. Ignoring the app\u2019s initial notification and delaying posting became more socially acceptable. Even so, participants still grappled with how to evaluate <\/strong>the authenticity of others. Some viewed retakes or delayed posts as inauthentic, while others believed curated posts could still reflect genuine self-expression. As one participant said, \u201cI hate her BeReals. I\u2019m like, You\u2019re defeating the whole purpose of the platform\u2019 and it annoys me to see it\u2026 she\u2019s unaware that we can see that she\u2019s retaken it nine times.\u201d\u2018You\u2019re defeating the whole purpose of the platform\u2019 and it annoys me to see it\u2026 she\u2019s unaware that we can see that she\u2019s retaken it nine times.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authenticity on BeReal is shaped by both platform constraints and social norms that emerge among users. Pinch and her colleagues found that while social media apps can push for authenticity through strict platform design, eventually, these features will clash with users\u2019 need for control of how they present themselves online. For sociologists, this study offers another example of the enduring relevance of Erving Goffman\u2019s insights on the presentation of self and impression management. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Annika Pinch, Floor Fiers, Jeremy Birnholtz, Justine Fisher, and Brigid Reilly, “New Media & Society,” \u2018Is It Time for Me to Be Authentic?\u2019 Understanding, Performing, and Evaluating Authenticity on BeReal., 2024 Image by Jordyn Wald. \u201cTime to BeReal. 2 mins left to capture a BeReal and see what your friends are up to!\u201d This is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2217,"featured_media":12001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[139660,139678,2326,139683,139662,139650,139665,139686,139655,139677,139332,139653,139668,139337,139661,139326,139669,139681,139656,139687,139684,139651,139666,139339,139657,139671,139658,139038,139675,139674,139652,139663,139676,139000,139670,139664,139327,732,139685,139679,295,26524,139667,139673,139659,139680,139672,139654,139341,139682],"class_list":["post-12000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-annika-pinch","tag-app-design","tag-authenticity","tag-authenticity-dilemma","tag-authenticity-online","tag-bereal","tag-bereal-study","tag-bereal-trends","tag-curated-content","tag-digital-authenticity","tag-digital-culture","tag-digital-identity","tag-digital-performance","tag-digital-sociology","tag-emma-goldstein","tag-erving-goffman","tag-everyday-life","tag-frontstage-backstage","tag-gen-z","tag-identity-performance","tag-impression-control","tag-impression-management","tag-media-authenticity","tag-media-studies","tag-mobile-apps","tag-mobile-photography","tag-new-media","tag-online-behavior","tag-online-persona","tag-performative-authenticity","tag-performativity","tag-photo-sharing","tag-platform-constraints","tag-platform-design","tag-realness","tag-retakes","tag-self-presentation","tag-social-media","tag-social-media-critique","tag-social-media-norms","tag-social-networks","tag-social-norms","tag-social-pressure","tag-sociological-theory","tag-sociology-of-media","tag-surveillance-culture","tag-temporality","tag-unfiltered-content","tag-user-behavior","tag-user-interviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/files\/2025\/04\/Untitled.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12000"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12004,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12000\/revisions\/12004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/discoveries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}