• by Colin Kirkland , May 1, 2023

BeReal, the purposefully unglamorous one-post-a-day social media app, has announced a new feature testing in the UK called “RealPeople,” a curated timeline of “the world’s most interesting people -- "from top athletes, artists, activists, and everything in between,” the platform says.

The “anti-Instagram” app, which invites users to reclaim a more realistic representation of themselves on social media, says that those highlighted on the RealPeople timeline will mirror the general user experience by sharing “real unfiltered glimpses into their daily lives.”

Keeping with this goal, the company says it wants to “eliminate” society's notion that public figures live in an “alternate, filtered universe.”

“It might surprise you to see you’re listening to the same song as your favourite media personality or have the same coffee order as the good-looking F1 Driver from the telly,” wrote BeReal in a blog post. “We’re not about gatekeeping here -- just as long as the person is okay with sharing their BeReal widely.”

The company also wants the public to know that RealPeople is not focused on “influencing, amassing likes or comments, or promoting brands.”

In an effort to differentiate itself from ad-heavy social apps like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, RealPeople says, it will not feature any photoshopped pictures, product recommendations, or ads disguised as posts.

To access the new feature -- which the company says will roll out globally very soon -- users can go to the app’s Discovery tab and select RealPeople. From there, users can react to celebrity posts with their RealMojis, hide unwanted accounts from their timelines, and even report posts that may violate the app's rules.

In its announcement, BeReal also said the new feature will be part of a “busy summer” for the app, which suggests users can expect more updates in the coming months.

Prior to RealPeople testing in the U.K., BeReal launched a “Bonus” feature last week, which incentivizes users to post on time (when the app’s daily photo alert flashes on users’ phone screens) by awarding them up to two bonus posts per day.