👉 Background: We know that Meta has taken some ‘inspiration’ from other apps in the past. It copied Stories from Snapchat, Reels from TikTok... but now Instagram is reportedly prototyping a clone of the #1 free app in the App Store, BeReal.

👉 What happened: BeReal is a new social network that sends you a notification at a random time each day. You get two minutes to take a front-facing photo and selfie simultaneously so your followers can see both views.

👉 What else: The idea is that it encourages authentic images (like getting dressed for work, sitting on the toilet or watching Netflix while eating a three-week-old-block-of-chocolate) as opposed to the carefully curated posts you see on on Instagram. But now, Instagram is testing an eerily similar feature called IG Candid.

What's the key learning?

💡In the words of Picasso "good artists copy, great artists steal". While social media companies all started off with their own unique features, it’s becoming harder and harder to set them apart.

• Twitter had Fleets which was a rip-off of Insta Stories, but Insta Stories was a rip off of Snap Stories.
• Snap has Spotlight which is similar to Insta Reels, but we know Insta Reels was a rip off of TikTok.
• And TikTok? Well, that’s taken inspiration from Vine (RIP).

💡Not to mention all the Clubhouse rip-offs (like Twitter Spaces, Spotify Green Room and Facebook's Audio Room) that seem to have totally disappeared now?

💡While it makes sense for companies watch their competitors to see what works, replicating their big ideas doesn’t always lead to replicating its success.