Tired of toxic social media interactions? Marvel actor Blondy Baruti is too, which is why he launched a new social network called BePerk.
While Baruti’s name doesn’t ring the same sort of bells as, say, Chris Evans or Robert Downey Jr., he has a respectable acting career to his credit. In addition to starring in “Guardians of the Galaxy,” Baruti is also starring in an upcoming NBA-based TV movie. Of course, that has to do with the fact that his previous career involved being a basketball player for the University of Tulsa.
In any event, this native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has launched BePerk, which Insider describes as being designed to give more people control over their actions and interactions.
Specifically, the Marvel actor chose to launch it during Mental Health Awareness Month because he felt people were placing too much emphasis on social media interactions and not enough emphasis on self-care.
He also said that it was something he built from the ground up.
“I didn’t get any investment from anyone,” Baruti said to the outlet. “I believe in this, so I invested everything that I made in the last four years from that time — from the movie, the book deal, from a couple of shows I did for ABC.”
BePerk allows the user to post photos or videos and set a timer on how long others can see them. This can range from a few seconds to permanently. BePerk also allows the user to set their profile — or their posts — to private, so others can’t see how many followers they do (or don’t) have and set judgments against them.
The Marvel actor said that he created the app with the hopes that people would place more emphasis on meaningful interactions, and less on superficial algorithms.
“I thought, I won’t be able to stop all of this, but I can at least try to slow it down or minimize it by creating something in social media that will be focused on giving the power to the users,” he said.
