User-App Counseling:
BeReal & Users

Revamping the authentic social networking app, BeReal, to boost user engagement and retention. New features, reimagined flows, & more connections.

Role

Product Designer

Scope

Design Research, Prototyping, Pitch Presentation

timeline

Spring 2023
6 Weeks

Team

Pooja Deshmukh, Dereck Villagrana, Bea Zhu

Hard Launching: BeReal + Users

BeReal, released in 2020, is a social networking app that encourages people to share their day-to-day lives. The app gained popularity during the pandemic and was praised for its push for more authentic content on social media.

Share your day-to-day life, within a random 2-minute timeframe every day

Unlock friends' posts after
posting your own

View global posts to explore different lifestyles acroos to world

Research says: The Honeymoon Phase is over.

After reviewing journal articles, app reviews, and interviews, we learned that users are losing interest in the app due to the repetitive nature of daily posting.

Interview Highlights

The app's success ultimately depends on its ability to balance authenticity with safety and scale up its user base.

Brooke Erin Duffy
Associate Professor at Cornell University
Department of Communication

Survey Highlights

Survey Highlights

Pin Pointing Flags: It's not you, it's me

Through affinity mapping, we discovered three areas of improvement.

Posts are becoming more repetitive and boring

Users are not posting on time

Discovery Page is rarely touched

Users resonate the concept of authentic content

This led to our main task.

Task

Design app features that improve long-term interest & maintain the value of authenticity.

Problem 1: It's the same thing every day.

The daily act of posting and viewing friends' posts became repetitive and uninteresting over time. How might we make the act of creating and viewing posts interesting?

Video + Bereal Prompts

We can spice things up.

Participate in simple prompt challenges and post short videos.

Add novelty to posts
Providing topics of discussion in comments
Encourage users, who wait for interesting activities, to post on time

Custom Bereal Prompts

Join in on the fun.

Submit prompts to be randomly assigned to your friends!

Encourage users to look out for their prompt submission.
More onscreen time in app

MEmory Highlights

Remember all the good times.

Store and share up to 10 of your fondest memories on your profile.

Promote an avenue for favorite content
Provide more personalization and attachment to the app space

Solution: Adding variety and novelty to posts.

Videos can feel more personal than static images. This option allows more exciting content.

Memory highlights allow users to share their favorite BeReal moments on their profile page, helping them reflect on exciting memories.

Prompts encourage users to engage with their posts, leading to more reactions, comments, and shares.

Problem 2: We are not in sync.

Posting within the notification timeframe can be difficult. Users may not be camera-ready at the right time. How might we encourage users to post on time?

BeCloser Circles

Some moments aren't meant for everyone.

Create a close circle of friends to share more personal posts.

The marked post will only be available to friends in your BeCloser circle.

Promote sense of privacy and safe space to be authentic
Foster communities within the app

BeCloser Circles

Build your safe space.

BeCloser circles can be edited at any time and do not notify friends.

Users can choose who sees certain memories
Encourage users to post on time and frequently

Solution: Reducing social pressure.

Users feel pressure to post the best versions of themselves, especially to a large crowd. Now you can choose who can see you on your not-so-good days.

BeCloser Circles are made by users. More privacy and control to users.

Problem 3: I don't feel seen. (Discovery Page)

BeReal users rarely or never use the discover page. How can we make this feature attractive?

Build your own Discovery

Explore the world together.

View global moments of your choosing through search or randomization

Users are limited to 3 searches a day

A discovery feed will be filled with searched locations and don't worry they can be sorted with the flag icons

Solution: Developing personality.

Users did not connect with the original Discovery page because it was irrelevant. Curating their own feed introduces a connection between users and the Discovery Page.