Will This App Kill the Selfie?

Beme: Honest social media, for a change.

By The Editors
July 21, 2015 9:00 am

Attn. social media curmudgeons:

We feel you. The world of selfies and status updates is a world of carefully crafted avatars and look-where-I-am oneupsmanship.

No one — whether friend or foe, client or colleague — seems to be interested in sharing their true self.

To fix that: Beme, a just-launched video app from Casey Neistat that promises to show “the real you.”

Don’t know Casey Neistat? He’s the hyper-creative DIY video director who continually wins the Internet (see videos he made for Nike, his wife and one where he protests the NYPD’s anti-bike policy).

With Beme (which you’ve probably seen trending on social media), Neistat wants to focus on authenticity. To provide updates from the heart — literally.

Using your smartphone’s proximity sensor, just open the app and hold your device to your chest.

Boom: instant recording of all that’s in front of you, without the intrusive/artificial nature of other video apps.

As for the social part: as is the case with Snapchat, you can watch other Beme users’ newly posted videos only once, then — poof! — they’re gone. And instead of “Likes,” you tap your phone during the viewing to send the creator an instant, honest reaction shot.

Beme is available now, but you’ll be locked out until someone on the app unlocks you, you find a code on Twitter or Neistat announces a limited-time code on his YouTube page, supposedly happening this week.

Until then: keep it real.


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