Alexis Barreyat is a former employee of GoPro and the current CEO of popular app BeReal. Barreyat launched BeReal in 2020 and since then the app has completely taken off. Alexis encourages the users to be real and to not use filters. Unlike some social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter, BeReal is user friendly and doesn’t trap a person in an endless scroll. Barreyat says that the app isn’t made to acquire a following but to keep in touch with friends and family in a unique way.
The entrepreneur had an initial financial startup of $30 million, but since it’s release, BeReal has accumulated over $630 million and is continuing to gain revenue. Between the months of January and April, the app grew by 315%. BeReal now has over 20 million downloads and 10 million active users all over the world. With no advertisements and no follower account, Alexis Barreyat created an app that de-emphasizes social media addiction and at the same time a fun app to let friends and family share what they are doing.
I have been a user of BeReal for the past month and have enjoyed this concept of a social media opposed to popular sites such as Instagram or Snapchat. I had not been aware of the backstory behind this app, but I knew that it was recently created. Alexis used his knowledge in a well-established brand to create a unique outlook on social media and moment-sharing in a non time intensive way to share memories. BeReal takes a few minutes at most per day to post and view your friends’ posts. BeReal allows us to know what our friends are doing at that exact moment which is a nice twist to the saturated posts of other social medias. I also love the marketing idea of this company as well as the slogan which has become a common saying on our campus whenever the app notifies us that it is time to be real.