Bored Panda reached out to Henri, the creator of the Best of BeReal Instagram page, for a friendly chat about the inspiration behind it, as well as why BeReal resonates so much with so many people. They were also kind enough to share their thoughts about the secret behind taking a great BeReal photo.

Henri actually has quite a bit of experience with social media. "I've had a few entertainment pages on Instagram before," they told us.

"Once I saw BeReal was a trending app I decided to take part in the trend by creating a page about the funniest posts. I guess I was one of the first to do so and now this is trending niche in multiple platforms," Henri said.

"At first I looked for the funny pictures myself but soon followers began sending their pictures to me. I guess the page became so popular among people due to everyone can participate in my posts," they pointed out that their fans enjoy being a part of the experience and interacting with the page. That makes the content that much more relatable.

"BeReal became so popular due to its fresh and catchy idea. I like the design of the app as well," the creator of the Best of BeReal IG page pointed out its upsides.

"Obviously, a good BeReal picture is REAL. However, a perfect BeReal for my page to post is something unforeseen and comical. It must stand out of the mass of messages I receive," the IG page founder said that getting featured is all about standing out from the crowd in a unique way.

Launched in 2020, the French social media app was developed by Alexis Barreyat and Kevin Perreau. It soared in popularity in 2022. While many users definitely do enjoy the app because of its focus on authenticity, others aren’t as enamored with the project.

Some say that there’s too much of a focus on mundanity. After all, not every user will be trekking around the world, going to awesome concerts, and living their lives to the fullest every single day. Some days/weeks/years, you just wanna make some basic pasta and nap in front of the TV. However, that’s not what this list is about. No, this list is all about excitement! Comedy! Bizarreness! Pics that really make you wanna figure out what the friggin’ heck the context is.

There’s a certain sense of magic that lies in the idea of taking a memorable photo of yourself and what you’re doing once a day. It serves as a nice archive to look over in the future. Moreover, there’s a bit of pressure for you to start doing more exciting things.

For some, that might mean climbing a mountain or checking out a fabulous new restaurant that’s just opened downtown. For others, it might be all about picking up a beloved but dusty hobby once again or cooking a meal they’ve been meaning to for ages. We can all find adventure in our day in our very own unique ways. 

No user knows when the BeReal app will notify everyone to upload a photo. The specific time the notification appears varies each and every day. Those users who upload their pics on time will have their pics show the time they were uploaded. Meanwhile, those BeReals that were uploaded ‘late,’ i.e. after the 2-minute window, will indicate how late they actually were.

Now that doesn’t mean that you only have one attempt to upload a BeReal. You can have as many do-overs as you’d like… though other users can see how many attempts it actually took you before you posted the pic. That’s definitely one way to get people to focus on authenticity instead of ‘perfection’ with their daily snapshots.

Meanwhile, BeReal users only have one chance to delete their pic and post another one. They also can’t post more than one at any one time. The location where you took the photo is also available to other users, too. What’s more, BeReal doesn’t allow for any photo filters or other types of editing. Meaning that it’s seen as an alternative to Instagram.

Whether you think that BeReal is awesome or awesomely overhyped doesn’t change the fact that the internet—and especially social media—is in dire need of an authenticity boost. Photo editing apps and the widespread use of photo-editing techniques aren’t good for people’s mental health and self-confidence. You’re constantly bombarded with photos and videos of ‘perfect’ people living ‘perfect’ lives on nearly all of your social media feeds. That can make you deeply unsatisfied with your ‘mundane’ life.

A while back, Bored Panda spoke about the negative effects of heavily photoshopping pics with u/Cluelessnumber7, one of the moderators running the massively popular r/Instagramreality subreddit.

"The first [negative effect]? The unrealistic expectations influencers purport to their impressionable followers. The amazingly smooth skin, suddenly common almond-shaped eyes, pouty lips, sharp jaw lines, slim hourglass shapes, and so on," they explained.

"What’s being lost by just posting that photo for the masses is the time it took to pick the outfit, hunt down the right lighting, pick which hand to take the selfies with (yes, seriously), and that’s all before smoothing, refining, and resizing in Facetune. Without disclosing that, there is now a countless amount of people comparing themselves (and perhaps spending money to look like) a person who doesn’t exist," the moderator told Bored Panda during an interview, earlier.

"The second [negative effect] is one that many people don’t like to address—the insecurities of those who feel the need to edit their photos. They’ve been editing their photos for so long it could mean losing the validation from their followers, losing followers, and maybe losing sponsors if they came clean. So, they would rather enjoy the false fame, than risk losing it over integrity,” they said.

"Filters have become a crutch for so many people on Instagram that they now edit their still photos to look like their filtered Snapchat videos; adjusting their noses, tone of their skin, smoothing all blemishes, adding lashes in post. These filters, while fun, are surprisingly insidious. You don’t realize that you expect to look like the filtered version of yourself, until you attempt to take a photo without them,” they suggested that it’s vital to fight back against all types of filters that alter the shape, size, or proportions of a person’s body and face.