[Commlist] CfP for Flow special forum on BeReal and Platform Authenticities

Call for Papers:

FlowVolume 29 Special Issue 4:

    The Struggle Is (for) Real: Cultivating Authenticity in the “BeReal”
    age


The viral popularity of BeReal prophesizes the next generation of social 
media and social sharing platforms. The image-centric sharing platform, 
launched in 2020 by Alexis Barreyat and Kevin Perreau, promotes itself 
as a platform for people who hate social media. The platform’s 10 
million active users receive a daily notification reminding them it is 
“time to BeReal” while allowing two minutes to snap their current 
moment. Already recognized as the “antidote to social media fakery” 
(Duffy & Gerrard, 2022), BeReal encourages authenticity through the 
platform’s logic and design while policing users' labor through its 
emphasis on capturing each post in a single shot. BeReal cultivates a 
return to simplicity with its minimalist interface and simple user 
experience flow (Boffone, 2022). In the wake of COVID-19 lockdowns, 
BeReal promotes a sense of digital collectiveness as users share their 
pandemic moments and build a digital community. With increased social 
media fatigue, BeReal promises a platform experience where creative work 
and posting practices neither center around advertisements nor 
influencers (McKoy & Scanlan, 2022).

This special issue of Flow opens a space to discuss this platform. What 
do BeReal’s unique affordances provide for users? How do they catalyze 
certain user behaviors and practices over others? How will BeReal shift 
influencer and creative economies? Is BeReal just another social sharing 
fad, or will the platform have a more permanent impact on digital 
platform cultures? As one of the first scholarly forums about BeReal, we 
welcome scholars to grapple with this emerging critical conversation 
interrogating BeReal’s role in the following topics and beyond:


  *

    Methodological ethics and concerns for studying BeReal

  *

    Telecommunications law and media policy

  *

    The future of advertising on social platforms

  *

    BeReal’s user experience

  *

    Race, Gender, and BeReal

  *

    Cross-cultural and/or transnational analyses of platform use

  *

    Influencer economies and platform labor

  *

    Social sharing v. social media

  *

    Behind the scenes of BeReal: authenticity and curation

  *

    Social media fads

  *

    Slow social media

  *

    Gamification of social platforms

  *

    Abolitionist and anti-carceral analyses of surveillance on BeReal



To be considered for this issue, please submit a completed column of 
1200-1500 words, along with at least three images (.gif or .png) or 
embeddable audiovisual materials with image sources. Please send your 
column, media files, sources/citations, and a short bio toFlow’s guest 
editors, Jess Rauchberg and Tom Divon, (atflowjournaleditors /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(flowjournaleditors /at/ gmail.com)>by January 13, 2023. ThisSpecial 
Issue will be published atflowjournal.org 
<http://www.flowjournal.org/> in early February.


Flowis a critical forum on media and culture published by the Department 
of Radio, Television, and Film at the University of Texas at 
Austin.Flow’s mission is to provide a space where scholars and the 
public can discuss media histories, media studies, and the changing 
landscape of contemporary media.


References


Boffone, T. (2022, September 29). You gotta be quick when it’s time to 
BeReal. Retrieved 
fromhttps://www.popmatters.com/bereal-social-media-gamification 
<https://www.popmatters.com/bereal-social-media-gamification>.


Duffy, B.E. & Gerrard, Y. (2022, August 15). BeREal and the doomed quest 
for online authenticity. Retrieved from 
https://www.wired.com/story/bereal-doomed-online-authenticity/ 
<https://www.wired.com/story/bereal-doomed-online-authenticity/>.


McKoy, K. & Scanlan, K. (2022, November 15). Could BeReal be the first 
successful social media channel to grow without ad support? Retrieved 
fromhttps://digiday.com/marketing/could-bereal-be-the-first-successful-social-media-channel-to-grow-without-ad-support/ 
<https://digiday.com/marketing/could-bereal-be-the-first-successful-social-media-channel-to-grow-without-ad-support/>.


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