A social media site for social well-being? The curious case of BeReal

Authentic self-presentation on social media has been identified as a potential protective factor for users’ wellbeing, yet empirical research has largely focused on highly curated platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. The present study is among the first to systematically investigate BeReal, a platform explicitly designed to promote authenticity through the daily posting of spontaneous and unedited images. The study examines how BeReal use and posting behaviours are associated with emotional intelligence (EI) and psychological wellbeing. Twenty-eight BeReal users aged 18 to 25 completed validated measures of online self-presentation, wellbeing, and EI, and provided app usage data. Participants’ daily BeReal posts were also collected over a 30-day period and categorised using an objective coding scheme capturing image type, location, user activity and appearance, posting lateness, and image retakes. BeReal use was substantially lower than use of other social media platforms. Although participants posted on most days, the majority of posts were late and image retakes were common, suggesting continued selective self-presentation. Posting behaviour showed no association with wellbeing or EI in relation to lateness, retakes or image content. Overall, findings suggest that even on authenticity-focused platforms, selective self-presentation persists, and that platform design alone may be insufficient to support psychological wellbeing.