“Sharing, Not Showing Off”: How BeReal Approaches Authentic Self-Presentation on Social Media Through Its Design

DOI

Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to the pressures created by social media, such as heightened self-consciousness and the need for extensive self-presentation. In this study, we investigate how \textit{BeReal}, a social media platform designed to counter some of these pressures, influences adolescents' self-presentation behaviors. We interviewed 29 users aged 13-18 to understand their experiences with BeReal. We found that BeReal's design focuses on spontaneous sharing, including randomly timed daily notifications and reciprocal posting, discourages staged posts, encourages careful curation of the audience, and reduces pressure on self-presentation. The space created by BeReal offers benefits such as validating an unfiltered life and reframing social comparison, but its approach to self-presentation is sometimes perceived as limited or unappealing and, at times, even toxic. Drawing on this empirical data, we distill a set of design guidelines for creating platforms that support authentic self-presentation online, such as scaffolding reciprocity and expanding beyond spontaneous photo-sharing to allow users to more accurately and comfortably portray themselves.