Over time, app developers have crafted each social media platform to be more similar to one another. Old platforms have been taking ideas from newer platforms who have been setting all the new and popular trends.

The most recent copy cat idea was originally produced by BeReal. The app was released in 2020, but did not pick up fame until June of 2022. In July alone, 1.7 million people downloaded the app to post daily pictures after a timer goes off. It allows for users to share with their friends what they are doing at any given point during the day. 

On September 15th, TikTok made a new update to where a user can post a ‘Now’. The new idea takes the exact same purpose of BeReal. TikTok even stole the same design as BeReal. Now, users can post a daily photo for their friends to see. The layout to view memories is exactly the same between both apps.

This however is not the only example of social media companies copying each other. After TikTok rose to fame in the late 2010’s, other companies made their own version including: Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and Twitter who recently changed their video format to appear to be similar to Tiktok. Even Snapchat has created a ‘Spotlight’ tab to view these short videos.

As many Twitter users noted, this is not a change that people wanted to see because it is just another excuse for companies to copy each other. Many users simply intend to keep using whichever app is best for their intended purpose. This causes each app to blur into one another. 

In order for developers to keep their app relevant in today’s society, the need for updates has tremendously increased. Talking about phones as a whole, Apple continues to produce original ideas throughout each update, some developers should take notes and ideas, but not copy. 

The whole problem is customers aren’t looking for “copy cat” platforms. What they truly desire is the platform they want to use works properly and is user friendly.

“It’s unfair for big companies to steal ideas and put them on a bigger platform. They need to just fix their own problems,” junior Greta Heiney said.

The whole concept of being “new and improved” has shown that companies would rather focus on being better than their competitors, than improve what software they already have. Instead, what many want is just for companies such as Instagram and Snapchat to fix their already existing problems. Perhaps if social media companies would focus on that instead, then maybe all apps would have an increase of users.