It looks like Meta’s Messenger is definitely working on a BeReal clone and we already have the first leaked images of it.
Matt Navarra, a Social Media Consultant & Industry Analyst, took to Twitter to share a first look at the feature, which is apparently called “Roll Call.” Instead of a standalone app, it will reportedly be built as a feature within the current Messenger app.
In the description, the feature sounds almost exactly like BeReal. After one person posts a Roll Call, everyone else in the chat will be notified and encouraged to respond with their own photo or video.
Roll Call helps people share authentic moments with friends and family in Messenger group chats, initially supporting photos and videos. The feature serves as a fun, pay to play experience that prompts members to participate, contributing your own media first to view what others have shared.
A Roll Call will be available to everyone who is currently in a group chat and they will have five minutes to add a video or image after it is posted.
Users create in-thread prompts, like “show me your lunch,” and other users respond with “in the moment” content relevant to the prompt. To encourage “in the moment” participation the prompt has a countdown timer (e.g., 5 minutes) and a notification is sent to users in the thread that they have the limited time to respond. After submitting a response, users can view everyone else’s responses to the prompt.
Meta’s Messenger has been up to a lot lately. Microsoft recently revealed that Messenger would be one of the first apps to support widgets on Windows 11. Spotify also joins Messenger in being one of the first companies to support widgets on the operating system. The company also launched a ton of new end-to-end encryption features for the messaging service last month.
