Family Tech Blog

Category: Social Media

  • Uptime Lets You Watch Videos Together When You’re Not Together

    Uptime Lets You Watch Videos Together When You’re Not Together

    Youtube’s Uptime is still in the invite phase but I got my passcode today and spend some time playing around with it. The idea behind Uptime is watching videos with your friends even when they aren’t physically with you. This app allows you to watch select YouTube videos and leave emoji’s or comments during the video. Your small avatar photo slides around the progress bar, which is a rainbow line that wraps around the video, and your comments or emoji posts show up at the time you sent it during the video. If you’re sitting and watching at the same time as a friend who follows you on the app you can interact with each other as if you were sitting together.

    My initial reaction to the app was that it is a bit cluttered, there are icons and avatars everywhere and it’s a bit difficult to know what to do at first. There obviously aren’t a lot of people on it yet since it’s in invite only so there aren’t a lot of new videos being shared by the community. It’s mostly the ones that are curated by the developers of the app. In fact, while you can search for a video to share, many of them aren’t available to use in Uptime so you’re left kind of having to recirculate the ones that you can already watch. There will be more videos added in the future, I’m sure, so this is just a part of getting into the app during the early stages.

    Your profile is taken from your Google account just like YouTube so, while you can, you don’t have to create a new account. The profile page features videos you’ve shared and a few reward counter icons. It keeps track of how many videos you’ve posted, how many people have liked what you post, how many times you’ve been featured and Sushi. I honestly couldn’t find any information about what the “Sushi” icon means. Uptime currently doesn’t allow premium videos, YouTube Red videos or music videos. This app is taking the it’s que from Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat’s live video options and giving people a way to enjoy video content together at the same time.

    What Parents Should Know

    First of all Uptime is currently invite only. You can download the app and watch their intro video but then you’ll be asked to submit your email address to get an invite. I entered my email about a week and a half ago and received my invite code today. The invite only phase means it’s not likely being used by most of our kids as of yet. I predict that it will catch on pretty quickly though once it’s fully public. Uptime doesn’t allow videos that are considered age restricted. I did, however, see some videos with adult language and some suggestive themes. I would caution you to remember that their definition of restricted may be less strict than your own. If the app catches on with your kids and their friends make sure you know what they’re watching and learn how to report any videos that you don’t believe are acceptable.

    It will be important to know who your kids are watching videos with and, of course, what videos they’re actually watching. Remember that comments are User Generated Content and can be difficult to filter. In the FAQ, the Uptime app is very clear that when you watch a video and are commenting on it, anyone else who is watching that video can see what you say. Remind your kids that since anyone can join them on that video they should consider it a public place. It is still important to not share personal or location information. It’s important to remember that with all online activity.

    Uptime seems like a novelty that many young teens and teenagers would enjoy. That’s why I’m telling you to keep your eye on it. In fact, if you’d like an invite code I can send you one. Email me at KMichaelPrince@Gmail.com with the subject “Uptime Code.” I’ll send you an invite as quick as I can. Then we can watch a few videos together.

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  • Use Twitter’s New Tools to Protect Your Kids from Trolls

    Use Twitter’s New Tools to Protect Your Kids from Trolls

    Surprisingly, more of our teenagers are using twitter than you may think. The common attitude among young people is it’s a good place to express yourself even if you’re not sure anyone is listening. Twitter is still a place for teens to go public with their thoughts and opinions. The potential problem with such expression is that there are always those out there wanting to counter your opinion. Often this takes on the form of trolling or bullying. Twitter has released some tools that can help their users filter out some of those trolls and parents need to learn how to use them.

    Twitter was in the news last year because of a common theme of internet trolls bullying users, especially celebrities. This caused Twitter to begin working on some new ways to “clean up” what you see in your feed. In the last several days Android and Desktop Twitter users were given the power to block notifications of posts from certain types of accounts, including those who haven’t verified their email address and phone number. The common practice of these trolls is to create fake accounts just for the sole purpose of messing with someone. They don’t verify the account or even include a profile picture, displaying the default bird’s egg logo instead. The new tools developed by Twitter will allow these trolls to be filtered out by simply clicking a couple of checkboxes.

     

    What Parents Should Do

    Suicide is now the third leading cause of death among teens and a teen that is cyberbullies is ten times more likely to think about killing themselves. These statistics are a reality in this digital world and are a wake up call that parents need to take the opportunity to filter content in their kids social media feeds seriously. These notification filters can help remove some of the negative and hurtful people that just seem to want to make trouble on Twitter.

     

     

    Take note of the above picture. If you go to the notifications tab on twitter you’ll see a Settings link on the upper right. Click that link and you should see something similar to this image. It’s pretty straight forward but if you turn off notifications for anyone who hasn’t set up their profile picture, validated their email, or linked their phone number you’ll eliminate many of those troll accounts that cause so much trouble. Remember that Twitter and other social media sites contain “User Generated Content” and therefore, can’t be considered safe for anyone under 17. This means you should keep an eye on what your child or teen seeing on Twitter and have conversations with them about it. As them why they use Twitter. Find out if they’ve ever been teased or bullies on the app. If so, ask what they did about it and who they told. Kids who talk about being bullied are far less likely to take drastic measure as a result of it so open the lines of communication and be present when they need you. You should be that safe place they can come to with any problem. Bullying on social media is no exception.

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  • Snapchat isn’t Just a Messenger Anymore

    Snapchat isn’t Just a Messenger Anymore

    It may have all started with “secret” messaging but it hasn’t stopped there. Soon public sharing became the norm on Snapchat, a feature that was copied by many other Social Media networks soon after it’s release. Then, Snapchat’s “Discover” page was released, this was a way for news and media corporations to reach the users of Snapchat with their messages and advertising. Lately, Snap Inc. has been working towards becoming a serious form of entertainment for it’s users, incorporating videos and even original show content into their network. Today, VICELAND has announced they’re producing several new shows exclusively for Snapchat. They’re starting with a “reality” dating show titled “Hungry Hearts with Action Bronson.”

    VICELAND Productions is following several other studios in making original shows for Snapchat. Networks including NBC, CBS, and A&E have already announced that they’re making versions of their existing shows for viewing on Snapchat. These studios are seeing the growing adoption of Snapchat as an opportunity to reach a broader audience with their shows and content. One of the fastest growing demographics on Snapchat is the 18-35 age-group, one of the main target audiences for the late night and primetime television networks. With this trend towards entertainment content on our social media apps, it’s important that parents are aware of what these apps are becoming, we have to make good decisions on whether or not we want our kids consuming the media they’re producing.

    What Parents Should Know

    Snapchat isn’t a trend and it’s not just a messenger anymore. What was once the “Secret Message App” or the “Sexting App,” as some called it, is now a major source of media for those who use the social media platform. This means we have to treat it differently than we do many social media apps. Keeping track of who they are friends with on these networks isn’t enough anymore. We have to keep a few things in mind if we are going to allow our kids to use Snapchat, Instagram, or any of these other apps that give advertisers and media content creators a direct outlet to our kids.

    Same Media as TV, Movies, YouTube, or Games.

    The creators of the content that will be made available through social media (Facebook has been signing agreements with media companies too) aren’t producing special more family appropriate shows. They will be making content that will reflect every other media outlet they produce for. Think YouTube Red, Netflix, or Amazon Prime. In fact, some of the rules that apply to broadcast television don’t apply to shows that are streamed online. This means that you’re more likely to see content like on Game of Thrones or Orange is the New Black than something with more restrictions like Blacklist or CSI. Don’t let the fact that these programs are being produced for free public streaming online fool you. They won’t be family friendly or edited for content.

    No Parental Control

    Snapchat currently has no parental control options. Their app is geared towards teenagers so they most likely won’t feel the need to add parental restrictions any time soon. The terms and agreements on most social media services allow for accounts to be created as long as you’re 13 years old or older. The question you have to ask is whether or not you’re ok with your 14-15 year old watching online reality dating shows or politically fueled sketch comedy. If you aren’t ok with these things then you have to make a choice about whether or not snapchat is welcomed on your kid’s phones or tablets.

    All or Nothing

    Social media apps are basically creating an “all or nothing” atmosphere for content created by these media outlets. Once you have an account on Snapchat, you have access to all that is contained in the app. Every person can be a friend or follower, every feed can be found and viewed, and every original show, no matter the target audience, will be available for viewing. With no parental control options the question isn’t what Snapchat content will be allowed, it’s “all or nothing.” They can see all of it, or none of it, those are your only choices. 

    Whatever you choose, you need to be educated about what these social media apps are producing. Keep checking in to Safe.BecauseFamily.org for up to date tech news that’s relevant for your family. Also, sign up for our Safe Online Newsletter. Just fill in the short form below.

     

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  • FB Video Autoplay with Sound is Coming Soon, Here’s How to Turn it Off

    FB Video Autoplay with Sound is Coming Soon, Here’s How to Turn it Off

    Facebook is quickly working towards becoming a serious contender as a destination for video. SmartTV apps with better video controls and a more video friendly UI (user interface) are just a couple of things they’re doing to be more video friendly. There’s another major change coming that will drive you nuts, I’m going to do you a favor and help you avoid it.

    Facebook has announced that they’ll soon be rolling out video autoplay with audio on your timeline in the Facebook app. This means you’ll be bombarded with the first few seconds of sound from every video your lovely Facebook friends have posted. If you have already disabled autoplay for some reason (like to save data or battery) then you’re good to go. If not I’m here to help. The video below will walk you through a few simple steps to help you disable video autoplay on the Facebook app altogether. You’re welcome!

     

     

  • Should Parents Worry about the Video Messaging/Live Video Craze?

    Should Parents Worry about the Video Messaging/Live Video Craze?

    Periscope, Facebook Live, Twitter, Houseparty, Squad, Instagram, and now here comes Ping Pong. These are all ways to record or live broadcast your life or segments of your life for the entire internet to see. Our teens and young teens are eating up this new live and sometimes raw form of communication. I’ve mentioned Musical.ly a few times in the past and warned parents about some of the risks associated with the app. This week, Musical.ly has announced the release of a their newest application, Ping Pong. This app allows users to record and send video messages much like Snapchat or Instagram Stories.

    Musical.ly launched Live.ly, a live broadcasts app last fall and have seen major success in adoption of the service. In fact, there are many users who are now just live streaming almost every moment of their lives. Users can create their own channel for people to follow and be live online at any given moment. The issue here is that some of Musical.ly and Live.ly’s most popular users are young people who aren’t even old enough to have their own social media page. Apparently that doesn’t bother the CEO of Musical.ly at all.

    While Ping Pong hasn’t fully launched yet (it’s available but you can’t create an account) it is being rolled out soon and will be another app that parents must understand.

    What a Parent Should Know

    Live video and video messaging are now mainstays of the social media your teens and young teens are using every day. It’s important to remember that they are able to broadcast and watch broadcast of everything that happens in their and their friend’s daily lives. For most young people this is going to be trips to the coffee shops, dumb stunts in the gym at school, and evening’s at friend’s houses goofing off. Unfortunately it can mean other, less savory, content as well. These apps are rated for ages 17 and up because the content is provided by the users of the services. This means that parents are expected to be monitoring what their kids are doing on these applications. Allow me to second that expectation. Use monitoring software like TeenSafe and filters like NetNanny to guard your teen from unwanted content. This will protect them while giving them full use of the social media they want to have access too. They will just be using it under your boundaries.

  • LEGO Life is a Social Network for Your Masterbuilder

    LEGO Life is a Social Network for Your Masterbuilder

    Social Media can be a dangerous place. Especially for our kids and pre-teens. More and more parents are allowing their kids to be social on the internet. Kids have channels on youtube, they share pictures on instagram, record publicly accessible music videos on Musical.ly, some even send disappearing images on Snapchat. LEGO is starting their own Social Media site that is focused on keeping kids safe while they share.

    LEGO Life is a new app by LEGO that allow children and their parents to share their LEGO creations in a safe and positive environment. The app’s safety focus is made obvious right away. You are required to create an account to share or comment on anything on the app and your account has to be approved by a parent through an email sent to their address. Also, while you can put a description and a title on your photos, comments are only allowed to be done in LEGO emoji’s and stickers. There will be no dumb kid telling your son that his makeshift Tie Fighter is stupid looking. Nope, only positivity and encouragement is allowed.

    Other safety features include the profile names and image restrictions. You are only allowed to share with a randomly generated name that you choose when you set-up your account. Images can only be of LEGOs. The app has algorithms and even live moderators keeping photos of people off of the app. You can only share what you’ve built. These features keep kids safe from bullying, predators, and the unfortunately all too common trend of inappropriate images being uploaded to photo sharing sites.

    As far as usage of the app, it’s pretty fun. You can upload pictures of your favorite builds and see photos of other users as well. You can search by theme (i.e. StarWars, Minecraft, LEGO City) or characters and even watch videos from LEGO right in the app. The coolest part, in my opinion are the challenges. Building inspiration from the folks at LEGO to help your children reimagine what they want to create. Fun ideas like, “Put a Minifig in Your Favorite Place to Be” and “Build a Super Bowl Party” are highlighted in the app as you scroll down the different categories. Recently LEGO used the challenges as a way to teach kids about internet safety by asking them questions about how to post positively on social media. LEGO Life is a pretty great idea and I installed it on my phone to check it out for this post but it’s probably on there to stay. I should probably tell my kids it’s on there too.

    What Should a Parent Know

    LEGO Life is a great example of someone creating a social media experience with kids in mind. The precautions they take to protect children are mostly unprecedented. The inability to privately message users and the use of LEGO emojis for commenting makes it a place free from cyberbullies and predators. The algorithm and moderators that keeps watch over images posted protect children from seeing something inappropriate as well. I have a hard time not recommending an app like this for parents of kids who love LEGO. It’s our kids’ favorite toy so you know it’s on my phone. I still am not allowing any of my children to have their own account on it. We post pictures of what they build on an account on my phone,that I monitor. I don’t think this app will turn out to be as dangerous as most other social media but I’m always going to err on the side of caution when it comes to my children posting anything online.

    My final thought and really only potential criticism is the merchandising and advertising aspect of an app like LEGO Life. Obviously it’s a very easy way for LEGO to promote their new products and they are definitely doing that. In between posts you’ll see banner ads for new LEGO sets and themes and some of the videos are basically entertaining ads for some of their other products. If you don’t want your kids to fall for the advertising game played in this app then you may not be so quick to allow them to use it. As far as my family goes, we are already so far down the LEGO rabbit hole that there isn’t much more damage that can be done. We will absolutely be posting our favorite creations to LEGO life, albeit together.

  • Early Spring Cleaning on the Snapchat Discover Page. 

    Early Spring Cleaning on the Snapchat Discover Page. 

    Last fall I shared a video about my distaste for Snapchat. It wasn’t about the images being shared as much as some of the inappropriate things you could find on their Discover page. This week Snap Inc. has announced that they’re going to be cracking down on inappropriate images, clickbait, and fake news in their Discover feed.

    Since the company is soon going to release shares to the public they’ve decided that their Discover page should be more serious about how users get their news. They will be asking publishers to use an age gate for images that might be deemed inappropriate for younger users. This gauge gate will not apply for folks who are older but could help parents keep some of our younger teens from seeing things we don’t want them to see.

    Since the Discover page came out a couple of years ago it is becoming one of the main sources of news for the young users on Snapchat. This fact is another major reason Snap Inc. has decided to clean up some of the content. Publishers like MTV and Cosmopolitan have been accused of posting images that some call obscene. This will have to stop soon since the new regulations take effect this week and the age gate will apply as early as next month.

    What Should Parents Know

    This latest news confirms my concerns about the Snapchat discover page. Thankfully it’s news that includes fixing some of the problems I had with it. My recommendation is that parents keep tabs on what your kids are doing on Snapchat. Take a look at the Discover page every few days yourself and see what news articles are being shared and what images are being used to promote them.

    It is also important to pay attention to how you get your news. Not checking facts and falling for clickbait isn’t just a problem with young social media users. This is something that is been in the news for all people lately. Lead by example and be sure to talk with your kids about how they use social media, where they get their news, and how they can find out if it’s accurate or appropriate before they share.

  • Advertising on Snapchat Gets Creepy 

    Advertising on Snapchat Gets Creepy 

    Snapchat’s Always Been About Privacy

    The initial appeal of Snapchat was the disappearing images. The idea was that your conversations with friends stayed between you and them. It was a novel concept in a world where anyone who wants can comment on your post on Facebook or Retweet you on Twitter. SNAP inc., the company that now develops Snapchat even let the privacy theme stay in the way they allowed advertisers to use their site. Last fall a feature allowed business accounts to import their email and phone contacts to target current customers with advertising but that meant the companies were using information that already belonged to them.

    The new announcement about advertising  means that marketers can use data from a third party data collection agency to target their audience based on what they do outside of snapchat. You know the feeling when you follow a whim and lookup the entire collectors set of Star Trek The Next Generation on Amazon and then see the ads for Star Trek pages on facebook the next day? Well, now the same icky feeling is available on Snapchat.

    The silver lining here is that you can opt out of targeted advertising on your accounts page. Snapchat has yet to release an in-app announcement notifying users of the addition or the option to toggle it off though.

    Snapchat’s CEO Said Ad Targeting is Creepy

    “I got an ad this morning for something I was thinking about buying yesterday, and it’s really annoying” Spiegel declared. “We care about not being creepy. That’s something that’s really important to us.” – Snap CEO Evan Spiegel

    Snap is a Real Company Now

    In September of 2016, Snapchat changed their company name to SNAP Inc. This led to some changes in how they did business, including adding hardware (Spectacles) to their repertoire. It has also meant that some of their earning decisions have changed and this step to provide more accurate advertising to companies who use Snapchat for marketing is a perfect example of one of those decisions.

    SNAP isn’t a company that makes an app for High Schoolers anymore. According to the latest reports Snapchat brags 301 million monthly users and are projected to earn over $900 million in advertising in 2017. That’s right, it’s time to take snapchat seriously. The app was largely considered a young person’s trend for a while after it launched but it has quickly become a serious part of the Social Media landscape. In fact ages 18-30 are one of their fastest growing user demographics. When you take all of this into account you realize that this shift in the view of targeted marketing was just a matter of time.

    Marketing Ruins Everything

    Remember when email was simpler? You had one address and just used it to chat with family or to do business. Now you have to have your spam address, newsletter address, family address, signup address, business address, and the email you never check anymore. This all happened because marketers ruin everything.

    Facebook was all about social connection, now you can’t scroll through three posts without a sponsored ad beckoning to you to buy some monthly box of uselessness. Marketers ruined Facebook too. Don’t get me started on YouTube. Sitting through a lame movie trailer before you can watch the cool movie trailer you clicked through to see…it’s all too much.

    It looks like Snapchat is next in line. The inclusion of ad targeting by Snap will allow everything, even some of your offline behavior, to influence the advertising you will see on your Snapchat story.

    What Parents Should Know

    Snapchat makes a lot of appearances on this site because it’s one of the most relevant social media apps out there. I recommend understanding the app and how it works if you’re the parent of a teenager. If they don’t use the app then they want to and you will need to be knowledgeable about it before you make the decision whether or not to let them start Snapping. While sexting is always a concern on any messaging app, the marketing announcement today confirms what I have been saying since this fall. Advertisers want to notify your teenager when they have a new message for them and Snapchat just made it even easier for them. 

  • Snapchat’s Search Update Can Connect Your Kid to their Favorite Celebrity Influence

    Snapchat’s Search Update Can Connect Your Kid to their Favorite Celebrity Influence

    Snapchat’s interface has been a topic of conflict for some users of the app. It’s a bit counter-intuitive and there hasn’t been any simple way to find and connect with other users. Discover, Stories, and group chat have been parts of recent updates that seem to be an attempt to attract more users to the app. Their newest update is an attempt to simplify the experience with a search bar.

    The development team has used this update as an opportunity to replace the search bars located at different sections of the app with one centrally located search tool that will search the entire app. Not only will users be able to find their friend’s most recent stories, the group chats and stories they’ve been apart of, and stories related to the same event or location, but they’ll also be able to find users they don’t yet follow and stories from “Discover Media” partners as well. That crazy article they heard their friends talking about is now just a search away, whether they follow the poster or not.

              Also Check Out: Snapchat Spectacles: Now You CAN Document Every Meaningless Second

    The update is starting slow and rolling out to Android users first. It will be available on iOS very soon though. Snapchat’s user-base is growing steadily and the majority of their users (sixty percent) are under 24 years old. While it’s popularity with millennials is growing their teen user numbers aren’t dwindling so your son or daughter are likely to use Snapchat or if they don’t they probably want to.

    What Parents Should Know

     

    Whether or not Snapchat is a no-go for your family is obviously up to you. It’s important, either way, to understand the functions and purpose of the app. The main goal of Snapchat is social connection. That’s all well and good between your kids and their friends, the concern is the access that brands have to the users of the app. Gone are the days when you could go to the bathroom and miss or just sit and ignore a commercial. We are raising our children in a world where the brands they use allow them to become fans and communicate directly to them.

    This new update will make it even easier for your kid or teen to become a follower of their favorite celebrity or product. If you prefer to have some kind of say over what products and famous people are able to share their “message” with your children then you should pay very close attention to Snapchat and apps like it. (Instagram, Musical.ly) On iOS you can use Family Sharing to keep an eye on what your kids are downloading. If you don’t want to or can’t set-up Family Sharing then the old fashion take the phone and give it a look is always a good option as well. Either way, don’t ignore the messages your children are getting through their social media accounts. You may be surprised how different those messages may be than the lessons you try to teach them every day.