I installed Musical.ly on my phone just to see what it was all about. “I have to do this sort of thing,” I said “it’s my job.” I then began to look around on the app and was annoyed very quickly. Unsurprisingly, it’s all about music. It’s about the latest pop hits, it’s about the classic songs everyone knows, and it’s about videos. Lots and lots of pre-teens making their own music videos.
Yes, there are grown ups on this app as well as teenagers but you have to filter through the younger crowd to get to them. Maybe I have defined the app and explained what it does but why, on this earth, don’t we like it? It’s simple. It’s public, it’s video, and it’s popular with your kids.
Musical.ly thrives on connecting people through the songs they love. You film yourself lip syncing or dancing to a popular song and post it for all to see. When you first open the app, you see the “Featured” videos. Some of them creative, some of them funny, most of them silly, many of them starring young girls. Yes, your daughter can be and likely is seen by anyone and everyone who uses Musical.ly right when they open the app.
Just check out the most popular Musical.ly stars on the app this year, all under age 16.
There are also concerns about commercialization of the app since many pop stars are using it to connect with their fans and build a wider fan base. That isn’t too bad of an issue until you, as a parent, are trying to be the first influence in your 12 year old daughter’s life and she’s hearing more about life from Meek Mill songs in Musical.ly than she is from you.
We officialy are putting Musical.ly on the list of “Apps to delete when you find them on your under 17y/o child’s phone.” Get to deleting! I’ll be deleting it now too.