Known for short videos rich in visual and sound effects, the TikTok app has added an option very similar to the BeReal concept (AFP / DENIS CHARLET)
TikTok, the application largely imitated by its competitors, in turn copies: the platform added a new tool on Thursday that allows you to capture images simultaneously with the lenses on the front and back of your smartphone, such as the network social BeReal.
“TikTok Now” is meant to share “your most authentic moments with the people most important to you,” says a company statement.
“You will receive a daily invitation to capture a 10-second video or photo to easily share what you are doing,” she explains.
The double image (selfie and environment), daily reminders, the promise of authenticity: these are the characteristics that have made the success of BeReal, the social network launched by two French people in 2020, which has been a hit for a few months, especially among teenagers and young adults.
The BeReal concept was created in response to sophisticated app filters and tools that have spawned entertainment formats and the influencer industry, from Snapchat and Instagram to TikTok.
That didn’t stop them from taking inspiration from the new trend. Snapchat has a “Dual Camera” and Instagram added the “Dual” option at the end of July to “record content and your reaction at the same time”.
Meta’s service has already copied Snapchat’s “Stories” (ephemeral format) in the past, then TikTok’s short and entertaining videos with its “Reels”. And he designed an in-house prototype invitation to share an authentic moment, called “Candid”.
TikTok’s decision to imitate BeReal seems more surprising, because the app does not see itself as a social network à la Facebook, centered on interactions between people who know each other.
“We are an entertainment platform,” Blake Chandlee, the company’s president of international affairs, said in an interview with US channel CNBC in June. “The difference is significant. It’s a huge difference.”
TikTok’s popularity, built on a very efficient user-based content selection algorithm, exploded during the pandemic and hasn’t waned since.
But like its oldest competitors, it faces a heavy fire of criticism, from its influence on the mental health of younger people to issues of misinformation.
In the United States, she is in the crosshairs of many elected officials because of her parent company, the Chinese group ByteDance – they accuse her of giving the Chinese government access to American user data, which she has always denied. .
© 2022 AFP
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