CS304 Blog #1 Icebraker
Hello everyone, my name is Victoria Beara. I am a third-year communication major with a concentration in digital media. My interests include going to the gym, watching sports, and spending time with friends and family. In society today, social media is everywhere, and technology is inevitable. That being said, a social media platform I find interesting is a relatively recent one called "be real." For those who don't know what be real is, it is a social media platform that will send you a notification at a random time and tell you to be "be real." This means you have to take two pictures, one using the front camera and the second with the back camera. However, a two-minute limit determines if you are "real" or not. For example, if you see the notification later and don't meet the 2-minute expectation, it will notify your friends that you were late and how long you were late. I find this interesting for two reasons. First, you cannot use filters or editing features to edit your picture, which allows for more authentic content. Today a vast issue is influencers photoshopping their photographs and creating a false image and false reality. The second is, sharing your location/ what you are doing at that moment. I didn't think of it like this until my mom brought it up. She didn't understand the idea that I would want people to know my location and what I was up to you. In "be real," it not only shows a picture of where you are but also marks the location where you took that picture. She explained how in today's day, there is no such thing as privacy anymore. With the developments in technology and electronics, we are constantly under more surveillance than when our parents were kids, which I thought was very interesting.
Here is an example I found on the internet that illustrates the features I was talking about. It displays the picture of front & back camera, your location, and how late you took the picture.
I would love to hear your guys' thoughts/ opinions! Do you agree or disagree with my mom that there is no privacy today? Did you think of be real this way?
Great post Victoria! I really enjoy using BeReal on a daily basis. I favour BeReal as it captures raw and authentic moments once a day. Some features that I love about this platform is how I can stay in touch with friends who I do not see on a daily basis, and I can see a small snippet of their day, everyday! I enjoy being able to react to post and comment on post to keep updated with my friends daily lives. Recently, I have gravitated away from using Snapchat since BeReal became popular as I can react back to my friends once a day, rather than snapping back and forth constantly.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your questions, I think your mom does have a point as we do share our location with our peers constantly, definitely giving up a lot of privacy in our lives. I do find it a little creepy sometimes how on BeReal specifically, you are able to see your friends exact location. I personally never thought of "being real" this way, but i think it is a great way to promote daily connectivity which is why I really enjoy this platform.