TREND 1: IT’S TIME TO BE REAL
Having grown up with the internet, Gen Zers are considered digital natives, unfamiliar with a world before the world wide web. Since they were born into this environment, they know social media typically involves the sharing of the highest highs but never the lowest lows.
After years of being exposed to picture-perfect Instagram feeds, Gen Z is flipping the switch and using social media as a place in which to be their most authentic. BeReal took off in 2023, and as its name suggests, is all about being real. More than 20 million users get a random notification from the app every day, prompting them to take a picture in the following two minutes of themselves ‘being real’.
“As Gen Z, we have such a small attention span that if we sniff anything that’s inauthentic, we’re like, ‘Nah’,” says TikTok content creator Hannah Koumakis. With 160,000 followers at the time of writing, Koumakis has paid partnerships with several brands who hire her to promote their message. “When brands approach influencers or content creators, [they need to] make sure it’s reciprocal because otherwise, the audience knows,” she
