Family Tech Blog

Tag: musically

  • Musical.ly is now Tik Tok

    Musical.ly is now Tik Tok

    Today marks a major transition for one of the most popular apps for young teens and tweens. Musical.ly, the lip syncing video app, has been merged with Tik Tok. Tik Tok is another video sharing app that is run by Chinese company, ByteDance. The company acquired Musical.ly in 2017 and has now turned the two apps into one.

    The ultimate goal of this transition is to combine users. Musical.ly has had 100 million users while Tik Tok boasts upwards of 500 million. Putting them together is a move to become a worldwide social video super app.

    What Parents Should Know

    First of all, you need to know what the Tik Tok app is when you see it on your kids’ phones. It is Musical.ly. Musical.ly has been on our uninstall list for a while now because of the social sharing aspect. Now, with 500 million more users, the number of connections your kids can make in the app has increased.

    I advise you to be aware of what apps are installed when your kids phone. Again, we recommend you uninstall TickTock if you see it. Many parents are involved in their child’s usage of the app and that is up to you but I never recommend allowing kids or young teens to use such a social software without supervision.

  • Musical.ly’s New Original Shows Could Undermine Your Internet Safety Goals

    Musical.ly’s New Original Shows Could Undermine Your Internet Safety Goals

    Musical.ly has joined the ranks of the social media apps that are bringing original show content to user’s feeds. The lip sync music video producing platform launched a couple of shows today. One of the shows is from MTV/Viacom and one is from Seventeen Magazine, with two more from the same companies coming out on Saturday.  New shows are also coming from NBC, E!, and Telemundo. Musical.ly isn’t charging networks for this content or even selling ads for it, they’re really just using it as a test for future network deals. Whether or not this programming will provide value to the social media platform is yet to be seen. What is very apparent, however, is that there will be more content for your kid to watch than just the lip sync videos they’ve enjoyed thus far.

    What Parents Should Know

    Musical.ly is on my uninstall list because there is no age verification. Users can log in and watch other people’s videos without telling Musical.ly how old they are. This means you don’t know who’s watching you or sending you private messages. Most of the trending video sections are filled with tween and teen girls and boys acting out the different challenges or songs. The lack of age verification has brought some criticism to Musical.ly and many didn’t like their CEO’s response to such criticism. It seems they’re happy to allow people of any age to use the service without proving their age.

    My advice is pretty obvious. I recommend you uninstall Musical.ly. Mostly because I wouldn’t allow my kids to use an app where they can be contacted by anyone and everyone regardless of age and gender. The addition of these new shows just strengthens my belief that Musical.ly can undermine your internet safety goals. Content on these shows can reach outside the boundaries of what is allowed on TV. Unless you’re watching every episode of the original shows Musical.ly puts on their trending feed, you have no real way of knowing what your kids are consuming. Musical.ly will stay on my uninstall list and if I had the list in any particular order it would probably move up the rankings as well.

  • PODCAST: How Do I Know Who My Kids Talk to Online?

    PODCAST: How Do I Know Who My Kids Talk to Online?

    Podcast: Play in new window

    Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS

    How do I know what who my kid is talking to online? Can I use YouTube kids on my Smart TV? What are my parental control options on Chromebook.

    Visit BecauseFamily.org/hush to donate to the Hushathon

    iTunes Link : https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-why-is-the-instagram-search-bar-recommending-porn/id1231177225?i=1000384845474&mt=2

     

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  • Musical.ly Defends Appealing to Underage Users

    Musical.ly Defends Appealing to Underage Users

    We have already said Why We Don’t Like Musical.ly. The app is in the news again. The CEO of musically has defended their handling of young persons who use their app. More than 1 million videos are updated every day. They have over 40 million users and many of them are under the age of 13. Musically doesn’t ask, upon signup, if you are 13 years old or older.

    We would collect ages but those kids would just say they are 13 so it doesn’t change the conversation. – Zuh (Musically CEO)

    The company says that it is up to parents to be sure their child is old enough to use their service. Their goal is to make the “environment safe” meaning that their focus is to protect content and profiles within the app. They maintain that many parents encourage use in the app and some are even involved in the videos posted by their children. However, the CEO of the company admits that they have “no way to know for sure” if children are using the service in the safest way possible. 

    What a Parent Should Know

    Nobody is going to look out for the safety and security of your kids except for you. You have a responsibility to pay attention to the privacy settings and functions of an app, game, or toy and decide if it lines up with the vision of your family. If they you are ok with them doing everything the app allows them to do then no problem. If you are throwing your hands up because you just don’t know what it does, you’re putting your children at risk.