Why social media brands are paying out for platform performance

After over two decades of social media platforms being a part of our everyday lives, we all know how these platforms earn revenue. Businesses and brands can pay Meta, TikTok, and others to have their ads displayed to targeted users on the platform. These ads can appear in users' feeds, stories, and explore page.

As newer social media platforms enter this legacy market, however, they’re flipping this model on its head. Instead of asking brands to pay to play, newer platforms are paying brands to join the platform in hopes of boosting their daily active users (DAU). Two of the latest platforms to attempt this are BeReal and Threads – and it’s pretty clear that social-savvy community members aren’t impressed with these efforts.?

BeReal-in Users Back In?

BeReal is an app that asks users to post unfiltered photos of themselves once a day, prompted by a push notification that states, “??It’s Time to BeReal ??.” Younger social media users fell in love with the app in 2022 because it encouraged them to be genuine rather than trying to present a curated version of themselves. The popularity of BeReal has fallen since its 2022 heyday, however. According to The New York Times, “Some users have discovered that seeing the monotony of their own lives reflected back at them is compelling for only so long.”?

In order to increase daily active use, BeReal invited brands and public figures to the app instead of focusing solely on ordinary users. Brands and celebrities can sign up as “RealBrands” or “RealPeople” on the app and share behind-the-scenes moments that they might not share elsewhere. It’s currently unknown whether these brands and public figures will be making money from the arrangement, but it’s easy to guess that there was a financial incentive to get the likes of Joe Jonas and Glossier to join the platform.?

Bringing RealBrands and RealPeople to BeReal has moved the needle slightly in terms of encouraging daily active use on the platform. In January, BeReal boasted 23 million DAUs; since bringing celebrities and brands on board, it now boasts over 25 million DAUs, a 9% increase. With major public figures and popular brands now on the app, BeReal is opening the door for marketing and advertising to finally find their footing on the app. However, advertisers may not want to pay to play on an app where users find the mere presence of celebrities and brands to be really fake.?

As soon as BeReal announced RealBrands and RealPeople, the app’s existing user base responded swiftly and negatively. Community members immediately flooded BeReal’s TikTok with comments stating that the update goes against everything the app originally stood for. BeReal’s marketing team tried to shrug off the negativity with a witty TikTok reminding their users that RealBrands and RealPeople were add-on features of the app that anyone could easily opt out of, but the damage has been done in terms of user perception.?

Even with the slight DAU growth following the RealBrands and RealPeople announcement, BeReal is losing steam. According to Business Insider, employees were told at a February all-hands meeting that the app had about 10 months of runway left before running out of money. Company leaders began exploring additional rounds of funding or a possible sale and ultimately ended up selling BeReal to Voodoo Games, a French gaming company. Voodoo is keen to quadruple daily users and implement advertising as soon as possible, which means BeReal could be deleted from many users’ phones before we know it.?

Winding Up More Threads Users?

Threads is Meta’s answer to X (Twitter). Users can share text-based updates, links, photos and videos on the platform. When Threads launched in July 2023, Mythic recommended approaching the platform with a learning agenda given how new it was at the time. Nearly a year later, the platform has seen its growth plateau at about 28 million DAUs and is now trying to pay people to use the app.?

Meta leadership is determined to make Threads the next social network with 1 billion users, so it’s natural that they would turn to payout incentives to inspire user growth. As early as November 2023, only four months after its launch, Threads began courting reality TV stars to join a new program on the platform called “Pops,” where creators could compete to win unnamed special prizes. This past spring, Meta ramped up their incentive programs even more.?

In April, Meta announced that it would pay out cash bonuses to creators who posted engaging content on Threads. As long as a post garnered more than 2,500 views and met Meta’s set of guidelines, then it could earn money. Meta even took this a step further and offered a select group of creators up to $500 if they posted content related to “positivity.”?

Threads’ user base treated this growth tactic with a bit more grace than BeReal’s users did. Some Threads users felt that the cash bonuses made sense from a business perspective, but many still doubted that the platform would ever pay out its creators as promised. These doubts haven’t been super detrimental to Threads’ public perception, though. DAUs on Threads are now surpassing that of X, whose reputation has tanked since Elon Musk took over in 2022.?

Intent clearly goes a long way with the follower-grabbing schemes employed by BeReal and Threads. BeReal claimed it wanted to be the most authentic social network out there and quickly went back on its word when its financial stability was on the line. Threads never made promises like that at the outset and now has a better chance of becoming the billion-user platform that Zuckerberg dreams of once it finds its footing.?

In a world where attention spans are limited, we're glad you stuck with it and made it to the end of this article because we certainly think it was worth the read. If you like what you saw and want to know how you can partner with a team that's brimming with creative ideas, reach out to our CMO, Taylor Bryant ([email protected]), and get a conversation with Mythic started today.