Caroline Bryant
The Southern Editor
“Everyone, smile for my BeReal,” is one of the newest phrases added to Generation Z vocabulary.
BeReal, which first appeared in 2022, is a social media app dedicated to taking “real” pictures, with notifications going off once a day, taking a picture with the front and back camera at the same time. Its immediate success earned it App of the Year by iPhone at the end of 2022.
The Lapse app could be the next. The app, which could be considered Fuji Film and BeReal’s love child, allows users to take photos with a film-like filter. The photo is then viewable once a notification is sent stating the photo has “developed.” Users then can post developed photos to make them visible to friends.
While it isn’t a ground-breaking concept, Gen Z has fixated on the app– and is currently the No. 2 most downloaded app on the Apple App Store.
The profile feature on Lapse may be to thanks for this ranking. When users first download the app, they must recommend the app to at least five friends before they can create their profile. Many were eager to get through this step to start posting.
“I enjoy Lapse because it gives me a place to just take pictures and just put them out in the universe…” alumni Kaitlyn Scircia said. “Like there are many things in the world that make me happy and it’s a nice, low-stress place to share it all.”
Yet, others didn’t download the app because of this. According to a poll conducted by The Southern, only 15 out of 101 viewers stated they downloaded the app. Many already deal with enough social media apps as it is.
“I think the Lapse app is honestly a really cool idea, but I know I’d only use it for about a month before I forget about it, and I didn’t need another thing just taking up storage on my phone,” junior Gracianna Campbell said. “Additionally, I’m personally trying to cut down on my phone and social media usage, so apps that may make me feel like I need to post or have my phone out more often are not something of interest to me right now.”
But unlike its counterparts, BeReal and Lapse are just a few of the newer social media platforms that have made it to the big leagues.
Kiwi, a music-sharing platform, is a prime example. Known as the “BeReal of music,” Kiwi sends a notification once a day at random to allow users to share what song they’re listening to. While the app’s emergence into the social media realm trended on TikTok in late 2022, the app’s popularity quickly died. BeReal’s music addition– giving users the option to post what song they’re listening to while taking their picture– may be responsible for their downfall.
Older platforms are “dying,” too. In a survey completed by Piper Sandler, only 20% of teens named Instagram as their favorite social media platform. Tik Tok took first prize. Tik Tok launched in 2016, when most of Gen Z was in middle or high school. Instagram premiered in 2010.
Though Instagram tried to replicate Tik Tok through Instagram Reels, The Atlantic states that users spend 2 million hours less on reels than they do on Tik Tok.
Instagram has also been taken over by advertisements. One can’t escape them. They don’t discriminate by post, story or reel, distracting users from any content their friends post. This seems hypocritical to Instagram’s tagline, “Capture and Share the World’s Moments.”
Users can barely see the moments captured anymore.
BeReal and Lapse, however, support this message. They don’t have advertisements, either. This may be another factor contributing to their popularity with Gen Z.
Yet, they’re still in their infancy. It’s hard to tell if they’re just fads that will collapse just like Instagram.
