The app BeReal has taken the world by storm, with over 27 million downloads in the last 12 months. BeReal is a new and creative way to showcase a moment, without the idea of it being edited. It strips the unrealistic expectations of social media, and creates a new way to see parts of your friends lives. Every day at a different time, everyone who has the app captures a photo of what they are doing in the moment. BeReal is like every other social media app. You can like and comment. As you can see, the craze for BeReal is understandable!

While BeReal was known for its originality, many social media apps have stolen the idea as a version of their own. For example, TikTok recreated BeReal’s app format, and created a whole section, known as “TikTok Now.”  The idea of BeReal was a way for people to be realistic. It allowed for people to follow along with their friends lives, without the need to constantly compare your life to unrealistic standards, as seen on Instagram.

This isn’t the first time that an app has stolen a creative idea from other popular social media apps. Like previously mentioned, “TikTok Now” is an example of one way apps have stolen creative ideas. TikTok is mainly known for its short, interesting videos that leave you scrolling for hours. This idea has been stolen from several apps, such as Facebook, Youtube and Instagram, being known as the “Reels” section. Even livestreaming, which originally started as a separate app, Twitch, has been stolen and added on to apps, such as Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. These apps adapted live streaming to make it more convenient. Social media apps are a complete recreation of each other, and several apps are losing its spark they once had. When will an original idea for an app remain original?