Notice any similarities?

Recently the app BeReal has gained traction around the world. While I’m sure the founders have worked hard to get it into the Top-10 most downloaded app, I have to admit it’s a hard pill to swallow since much of the concept is borrowed from our anti-social media app minutiae.

We wanted to create an app that celebrated the mundane ordinary moments of life.

My co-creator and I created minutiae in 2015 as a counter-reaction to the highly curated life we often see on social media. We wanted to create an app that celebrated the mundane ordinary moments of life. The type of moments that make up 99% of our time but rarely get documented because they don’t seem worthy of documenting - like watching TV, doing the dishes, being stuck in traffic, etc. 

"if it's free - you are the product"

In order to create a true "Anti Social-Media" experience, we decided to make it anonymous and remove likes, comments, and profiles. We limit the interaction to one minute per day and made participants pay for the experience - "if it's free - you are the product". The app was released in the App Store in 2017 and thanks to features in Wired, Financial Times, Monocle, and Vice, we got a lot of participants who have helped to spread the word about the project. 

"Hey, I think someone stole your concept"

Fast forward to earlier this year when I started to receive emails from our participants with subject lines like "Hey, I think someone stole your concept". Someone compared it to an Instagramified version of minutiae, others accused them of theft and asked if we called our lawyers yet. To be honest, even though it’s frustrating that they borrowed much of the concept and talk about “Authenticity” I still believe that a rising tide lifts all boats. Minutiae is a long-term self-portrait but also a way to document society. 

If you want to support self-funded projects such as ours then next time you hear someone talking about BeReal share our manifesto

If you want to support self-funded projects such as ours then next time you hear someone talking about BeReal share our manifesto (you might be surprised by the similarities) and remind them that minutiae is a marathon, not a sprint.

Financial Times global technology correspondent Tim Bradshaw first wrote about minutiae back in 2017, now 1440 days later he wrote a second column about his experience calling it:

“The result is a document of my existence unlike any I would otherwise photograph, let alone post on Instagram.”

Read his full column here.

Me and my co-creators anti-social media app minutiae is the first app to ever be included in Columbia University’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Library collection, as part of their Oral History Archives.

As Kimberly Springer, curator at Oral History Archives at Columbia, puts it: “minutiae will be a collection heavily used by future researchers and students interested in tech, art, publishing and a host of other topics. And integral to pushing our collections in a more cutting-edge direction.”

This is quite a unique and exciting accomplishment for minutiae!

One early morning a while ago I’m woken by a text message from my mother in Sweden “a guy is talking about your anti-social media project minutiae on the radio.” My first thought was “what!?” followed by “I really hope it’s something positive”. I knew it wasn’t my co-creator Daniel - who doesn’t speak a word of Swedish and probably would have told me if he was being interviewed. Since the app is completely anonymous and free from profiles, likes or comments I had no clue who the person might be or why he was talking about the project on Swedish National Radio. 

As it turns out the guy who was doing the talking was not just anybody but the actor Adam Lundgren - who is perhaps more familiar to a Swedish audience but also played a role in the HBO drama Chernobyl. Adam was being interviewed about his new TV-show “Vägra Social Media” (Refuse Social Media) when by a pure coincidence the daily minutiae alert occurred during the interview and the conversation turned to minutiae instead and how the project made him look at his surroundings in new ways. The project has received some good press (and reviews) yet hearing a complete stranger talking about it on National Radio was really special.

Most artists and creatives probably know how hard it is to make something other people care enough about to devote more than a few seconds of their time. This is especially true if your work isn’t about something that immediately engages (enrage) people (politics, religion, etc). I’ve made several projects that died a lonesome death on a hard drive somewhere partly because no one cared out what I had to say ( I don’t blame them). But after listening to the interview I began wondering why did this strange little project end up being more appreciated than others I’ve done in the past? 

There might be a few factors but I think the most important one is that minutiae return a direct value to the audience/participants. Minutiae is perhaps the first project I’ve done that’s truly interactive and where the participants actually get something back by interacting with the work. So, the lesson is, create work that returns a value to the audience and they might end up talking about it on National Radio.

Thank you Adam

Unfortunately, the interview is in Swedish only but perhaps it’s a good reason to practice if you don’t already speak the language.