Looks like Meta is having a hard time doing anything authentic! Now, a new platform has caught the company's attention: BeReal.
Instagram is testing "IG Candid Challenges," CNN reports, an option that looks remarkably similar to BeReal 's core concept .
BeReal is a social network that encourages users to post photos from their lives in real time. At the center is originality. In BeReal, there are no filters and no options to edit posts. Once you download the app, you get a notification once a day that it's BeReal time. This means you have two minutes to snap and post a photo of the moment, no matter how mundane your activity may be.
BeReal is often considered the anti-Instagram because it focuses on more authentic posts. Similarly, the Candid Challenges feature prompts Instagram users "every day at different times" to post a photo to Stories within two minutes.
BeReal takes two photos – a selfie and another that shows what you have before. Candid Challenges does the same.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed to CNN Business that the IG Candid Challenge is being tested internally at the company, without providing any additional information about it.
BeReal was launched at the end of 2019, but gained immense popularity at the beginning of this year. The application has been downloaded 43.3 million times. This summer, BeReal was ranked number one in Apple's App Store in the United States. The platform was founded by an entrepreneur in France, but Apptopia data shows that the United States is the main market.
Facebook has long used Instagram to compete with big rivals like Snapchat and TikTok by imitating their key features — for example Snapchat-like 24-hour Stories and TikTok-like video Reels.
