Family Tech Blog

Tag: social media

  • Leaked Snapchat CEO Memo Confirms a Greater Focus on Attracting Older Users

    Leaked Snapchat CEO Memo Confirms a Greater Focus on Attracting Older Users

    The messaging app that has had a reputation, whether for better or worse, for appealing to our teens and tweens is headed towards a more adult audience. Not necessarily in content but with a renewed focus on ease of use and organization. A new memo from Snap CEO Evan Spiegel highlights some of the changes the company needs to make to the Snapchat App in order to stop losing so much money.

    Since going public, Snap has been losing money at a rapid pace. This is both due to a major change in design within the app which lead to a somewhat mass exodus and competition from Instagram and Facebook. The most recent decisions at Snap have been a greater focus on how to make more funds and attract a greater number of users. This has led to an increase in advertising and changes to the look of that app in an effort to make it more user friendly. These changes seem to have backfired. This week, Spiegel’s memo is calling for a reinvention and a call back to “the core of what made Snapchat the fastest way to communicate.” 

    Back to Basics

    The memo mentions a refocus on chat in Snapchat. Spiegel says that the redesign of Snapchat caused user’s friends to get lost in the shuffle of influencers, paid advertising, and possible new friends. The discover page became a mess of tabloid like clickbait titles and friend’s posts vying for attention. The changes were rolled out too fast with not enough testing and the response to user outcry was the typical, “you’ll get used to it” attitude that most social media companies have when they make a change. Spiegel wants Snap to lean towards helping people make meaningful connections beyond a snap streak.

    Discover and Video Success

    Snapchat is seeing great success in the amount of people who are watching videos in the app. Even original and exclusive content is seeing great growth in viewership and Snapchat wants to capitalize on that. The number of folks who read articles on Snapchat’s discover is also seeing growth. Many media outlets are using Discover as a way to reach younger readers and seeing great success. 

    Attracting Older Users

    The problem with a user base made mostly of young people is that they don’t spend a lot of money in social media apps. Because of this Spiegel says that Snapchat is going to have to find a way to attract older users to their service. That is likely what the original (albeit unsuccessful) change of interface was all about. Spiegel mentions the need to age up their advertising, emphasize the ability to communicate efficiently and quickly in the app, and make the look of Snapchat more attractive to older users. 

    The memo mentions that older users see Snapchat as a “waste of time” or more for entertainment than serious communication. A focus on older users could lead younger ones to move on to something else. Spiegel and others who have invested in Snap may not care too much who uses their product as long as they start seeing the holes in the financial dam getting plugged. 

    What Parents Should Know

    Snapchat is still one of the top social media apps for tweens and teenagers. It is also one of the most used apps for predators because of the disappearing messages. The focus on attracting older consumers is going to mix up the user base of the app to where you can pretty much guarantee your kids are on there with people much older than them. To be honest, however, the same can be said for any social media app. 

    Snapchat is on my uninstall list because of disappearing messaging as well as the discover page which is basically the tabloid magazine section at the grocery store. It features stories from sources like Seventeen magazine and Cosmo and often contain R rated material. Remember that social media apps are rated 17+, even though you can open an account at thirteen. The 13 years old number is a protection for the company because of how the government says they are supposed to handle user data of kids ages 12 and under. Any app store will give social media apps an adult rating. Yes, an app like snapchat that is known to attract kids and teens is rated for adults. That’s why parents have to be paying attention. Learn about the apps your kids use and what they are rated. Assume you’re the only one looking out for their safety online, well, besides this blog of course. 

  • Instagram and Snapchat go Full Consumer Sales, Will Your Kids Migrate?

    Instagram and Snapchat go Full Consumer Sales, Will Your Kids Migrate?

    If it seems like every time you find the social media platform you like it gets ruined by marketers and salespeople that’s because that is exactly what is happening. First it was advertising, random ads showing up in between your friend’s IG Stories about their kids and coffee shop visits, now we’re seeing actual shopping being added to social media. Snapchat and Instagram seem to be going the way of Facebook by adding ways for companies to add products to their stories so you can shop right inside the app. 

    Instagram has expanded their discover section (when you tap the search icon) to include a shopping tab. This tab will be populated with products that are relevant to your activity on Instagram and will lead you to story posts that allow you to tap on products directly to make a purchase. Snapchat is also going to be adding in-app shopping with “Collections.” Collections will show up in between your friend’s stories and on the Discover page. These posts will give you the ability to actually select items you’d like to buy from within the app.

    What Parents Should Know

    You can expect to see these new shopping features roll out on Instagram and Snapchat over the next several days. Some have already been added. Your kids will notice them too and I expect a couple of different responses. First, kids are used to being advertised to. It happens to them all day long every single day. There is advertising in social media, in their games, and between all of the YouTube videos they watch. Many kids won’t be phased and may even find some useful stuff to buy in Instagram or Snapchat. 

    Secondly, I can see kids getting annoyed with the over focus on ads and migrating to a different option for their social media experience. Many kids already enjoy messaging through ad lite options like WhatsApp and Kik. They video chat with their friends through Houseparty, WhatsApp, GroupMe, or WeChat instead of Snapchat, IG, and Facebook messenger. I imagine their social media profiles will become more of a place to present the best versions of themselves instead of where they go to mindlessly scroll a timeline and connect with friends. 

    As parents, we should always know what apps our kids are using to connect with their friends. Do these apps require age verification are the default settings open and public so that anyone on the app can contact our kids? These are the questions we have to ask ourselves and our kids when they move from one social media platform to the other. Instagram is already so full of moms and dads that many kids are setting up secret “spam” accounts to avoid their oversight. The shopping features being added could lead to more kids moving on to other apps. Keep an eye on their downloads and on this site to see what they’re downloading. 

  • iOS 12’s Screen Time App Changes Everything!| Video

    iOS 12’s Screen Time App Changes Everything!| Video

    Apple’s latest operating system is out and features something parents have needed to see for a while. Screen Time is a way to monitor the amount of time spent on your device and set limits for yourself as well. You can set limits for certain apps, schedule time off, and even check to see how often you get notifications and from what apps.

    Scheduling “Downtime” is as simple as an on and off switch but is customizable as well with the ability to set apps to “always allow” change privacy and restrictions. Yes, restrictions have been moved from their own category in the General settings to a sub category within Screen Time. Don’t worry, though. All of your screen time settings can be password protected. App usage and data can be seen without a password but settings can’t be changed unless you enter your four digit code.

    There is much more about how Screen Time works in the video above.

    What Parents Should Know

    This is one of the biggest steps toward the total parental control package built in to a phone. If the filter was a bit stronger (it can be improved through usage) it would almost have it all. I still recommend an accountability software and something to monitor messaging.

    This addition by Apple is a step towards taking responsibility for the risks and addictive nature of their products. Speaking, myself, as one who feels like I’m missing a body part when I don’t have my phone, it is really good to have a reminder of how much time we actually spend looking at our screens. Set up screen time for your kids and teach them how to be mindful of the time they spend on their devices. Set it up for yourself too and hold yourself responsible for the amount of time you spend on your devices. Lead by example and put the phone down every now and then.

  • Common Sense Media Releases Six Year Study on Teens and Social Media

    Common Sense Media Releases Six Year Study on Teens and Social Media

    Non-Profit research and resource organization, Common Sense Media, released their six year study of teenager’s use of social media. The survey based study polled more than a thousand teenagers from ages 13-17 and from all walks of life. Some of the results were surprising while most were exactly what you’d expect.

    In the video above, I walk through some of their findings and my thoughts on them but I’ll list some of the highlights below:

    Teens use social media now more than ever before.

    Put this down in the not surprising category. The study found that there was a large increase in the number of teens who say they use social media in 2018 compared to 2012. Also, Facebook isn’t as commonly used by teens as it was six years ago with Snapchat and Instagram being the favorite of most of those surveyed.

    Social media is very important to most teenagers.

    Also not surprising is that many teens aren’t too good at self regulating their device usage and that many prefer social media interaction above face to face.

    Social media plays a critical role in the lives of most of those polled in this study. They agree that there are positive and negative affects but most feel that there are more benefits to their social media use than negative impacts. Those who were considered to have a low “social-emotional well being” were found to have more negative impacts from social media and most of those impacts were from bullying, racism, and sexism. Also not surprising is that many teens aren’t too good at self regulating their device usage and that many prefer social media interaction above face to face.

    Teenagers are wise to tech companies’ attempts to manipulate their users.

    A large majority of teens say that they believe tech companies manipulate their customers to encourage more device use. They admit that, sometimes because of this, they are often distracted by their devices when they should be doing something else. Many say that digital obsession is a problem for their parents as well. Also, quite an eye opening find.

    What Parents Should Know.

    Social media isn’t a phase and it is not something that you can keep your kids from forever. The most important thing is that when they begin to log in to social media accounts, they have an idea of what it means to do so safely. Model healthy social media and technology use for your children and try not to be hypocritical about your screen time limits. Talk to your kids about the time they spend online and let them know that they can come to you when something inappropriate or dangerous happens. 

    Know your child and if they seem to be the type who would be affected negatively by the use of social media then you shouldn’t allow them to use it. Encourage more face to face interaction with their friends and facilitate that with rides and your schedule. Finally, know that social media is a serious topic for your teen, a negative attitude that lacks any empathy to that fact will cause your advice to fall on deaf ears. Speak to your kids about healthy tech use and let them know this is a partnership, not a dictatorship where what you say goes and they’ll have to obey because you said so.

  • New Video Series will Help You Find Your Favorite Parental Control Software

    New Video Series will Help You Find Your Favorite Parental Control Software

    I am asked about new Parental Control software resources all the time. I always look into each one seriously and develop an opinion on them based on what they offer, how easy they are to set up, and how much they cost. I have worked with enough parents to know the barriers that they will allow to keep them from using a software so those issues are always top of mind.

    The Parental Control Research video series will be a way for me to walk parents thought my study of each parental control offering and break down their ability vs their cost to determine their value. Stay tuned to the BecauseFamily YouTube channel and this site to be updated on the weekly episodes of Parental Control Research with Michael.

    Episode 1 Features BARK, an algorithm based monitoring software made to keep tabs on what your kids are communicating about in messaging and on social media. I find it to be a simple setup, and an even simpler system to use since it is based on reporting to you, not you going to check the data. 

    You can use our affiliate link to sign up for BARK here. Thank you for reading FamilyTechBlog and for subscribing to our YouTube channel. Think of another software you’d like me to check out? Comment below and I’ll get right on it. We’re doing our best to keep your kids safe by educating you on what’s going on in the online world. 

  • Facebook Messenger Adds Augmented Reality Games as Their Browser Rises to Number Three in the U.S.

    Facebook Messenger Adds Augmented Reality Games as Their Browser Rises to Number Three in the U.S.

    Gaming in Video Chat

    We all love playing “Don’t Smile.” You know, it’s that game where you have to look at your friend until one of you gives in and cracks a grin. First to smile loses. That’s one of the new games offered for you and up to seven of your friends on Facebook Messenger. Except in the AR game, your face becomes a cartoon-like grin to emphasize your good sense of humor and lack of self-control. 

    Facebook is really pushing the video chatting option in their messenger app which is the number two most popular of its kind after (also owned by Facebook.) Using the camera to add graphics to your face for a game is only the beginning as they are working towards AR shopping and have already featured some augmented reality advertising. 

    Browsing the Internet on Facebook

    New research from Mixpanel features Facebook as a major mobile browser competitor in the United States. While Safari (iPhone’s stock browser) and Chrome (Google’s browser offering) remain solid at the one and two spots respectively the browser inside of the Facebook app is interestingly above Firefox, Opera, or any other browser for that matter. 

    A browser is an app you use to surf the internet. One of the main reasons that Facebook’s built-in browser is gaining so many users is the fact that so many of us get our news, media, and entertainment through the social media service nowadays. When you see an article you are interested in and click on it Facebook will take you to that article without leaving the app. That’s their built-in browser. 

    While Facebook has faced scrutiny for their data handling, fake news, and other privacy issues, it is obvious that they still hold a major share of the market where social media is concerned. People are still using Facebook’s app to connect, be informed, and be entertained.

    What Parents Should Know

    Screen time management becomes harder and harder as new features are added to our kids’ favorite apps. The developers of these apps want their users to connect through their app and be as social as possible. They want their app to be the new “hangout” location for those who use their service. Parents still need to be on top of how much time our kids are spending on social media. The dangers of cyberbullying, sexting, contact with predators, and access to inappropriate content increase as our kids spend more time online. Manage their screen time and teach your older kids to have healthy screen time habits. Studies have shown that actual, physical interaction with friends is much healthier than video chat. Encourage and provide safe opportunities for this type of interaction.

    It is also important for parents to know that their kids can access the internet within their favorite social media apps. Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat all have their own browsers and the data mentioned above highlights the popularity of the ease of use those browsers offer. What they don’t offer are content filters. If your kids can access Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat they can access all of the internet and to my knowledge, there is no way to filter out adult content within those in-app browsers. Most parental control apps don’t control content within the browsers of social media either. This should be enough for you to only allow your kids to use these apps if they are older, haven’t had problems with accessing adult content in the past, and are mature enough to make healthy browsing choices. 

  • 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.

  • Time Management Dashboard Coming to Instagram and Facebook

    Time Management Dashboard Coming to Instagram and Facebook

    I have had an extension installed in Google Chrome for a while that limits the amount of time I spend scrolling on Facebook. I can scroll and scroll until eventually hitting a limit that I set for myself. My only frustration is that it didn’t work in the app. Well, now I can breath easier since Facebook is releasing a new system for monitoring and controlling the amount of time you spend in their apps. The folks at Facebook say they want your time in their apps to be interesting and inspiring, not mind-numbing so they’ve introduced some new options and a dashboard.

    The new dashboard will show you how much time you’ve been spending in the app. You’ll also be able to set reminders and schedule a time to turn off notifications. The reports and settings will be found by tapping on the menu on the lower right of the Facebook app and by opening the settings in your Instagram app. You’re looking for the item called “Your Time on Facebook” in the FB app and on Instagram, you’ll open “Your Activity.”

    Facebook is hoping that this will encourage the more thoughtful use of their apps and alleviate the addictive nature of the infinite scrolling social media timeline. Since the “Time Well Spent” movement began, companies have been taking more responsibility to find ways to help people be more intentional with their social media use. The past ten or so years have proven that social media isn’t going away and that folks will use it even to their own detriment.

    NOTE: I, personally, haven’t received the update with these features yet as it is rolling out in batches over the next month or so. As soon as I do, though, you’ll see a tutorial on how to check your time spent and manage your settings on both Instagram and Facebook.

    What Parents Should Know

    This is a good opportunity to discuss the need for online time management with your kids. Since these companies are beginning to take it so seriously, we can use the news to encourage members of our families to do the same. Tell your kids about the features and ask them to use it, even if just to check in on the amount of time they’ve spent. It is amazing what changes you might make when you realize how much of your day is spent mindlessly scrolling a social media feed. If your kids are younger, I advise you to use these and any other resource you can to help them be thoughtful with their time online. Discuss time management with them and help them make healthy decisions so they’ll grow up with good habits.

     

  • Facebook/Instagram to Ban Users Under 13

    Facebook/Instagram to Ban Users Under 13

    Young Kids on Social Media

    Over the next several months, Facebook will be paying closer attention to profiles that seem to belong to underage users. Some recent attention from politicians and documentaries have highlighted the ineffectiveness of the company’s honor and reporting based age verification system, stating that kids of any age can create a profile and begin using Instagram or Facebook against the company’s age policy and the government’s regulations. COPPA states that kids’ data can’t be collected without the permission of their parents, this is why social media services have age restrictions in effect. The problem has been enforcement. Companies like Facebook and Snapchat have wanted to allow users to create a profile without too much invasion of their privacy or freedom of speech but this leads to an easy way for underage users to cheat the system.

    Facebook now says they are going to be having their content reviewers actively seek out profiles that seem to be run by younger Facebook or Instagram users and require them to present a legal form of identification in order to prove their age. Previously, this was only done if an account had been reported by another user, this meant that the first line of defense against underage usage was simply the other people using the service. Obviously, this hasn’t been effective enough. Even though Facebook’s user age has increased over the past several years, Instagram is still very popular with the younger audience. Whether parents are allowing their kids to use Instagram or whether they are signing up without their parent’s knowledge, Facebook is going to be going to new lengths to remove those underage accounts.

    Also Read: Facebook Messenger for Kids is Actually a Good Option

    What Parents Should Know

    Most social media is not intended for users under the age of 13. This is for legal reasons as well as for safety reasons. I usually recommend waiting until your child is 16 or older before opening them up to the social media world. User-generated content, the potential for meeting strangers, and highly politicised and polarizing material can be hard for younger kids to navigate and digest. It’s good for kids to be exposed to the realities and dangers of the online world while under some sort of supervision but Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and most other Social Media outlets don’t offer very helpful options for that supervision.

    I think it’s good that Facebook is cracking down on these underage accounts, even if it is to protect themselves from further scrutiny. In my opinion, we will all benefit from more people looking out for the proper, healthy, and safe usage of the most popular social media services of our time. The first line of defense should always be mom and dad but hopefully, these companies are waking up to see that they have to be of some assistance to families as well.

  • Facebook Messenger Kids Wants To Teach Your Children Kindness

    Facebook Messenger Kids Wants To Teach Your Children Kindness

    There have been a few important updates in Facebook Messenger Kids lately. The first of which is a focus on kindness and digital citizenship. The app has added features to walk kids through kind online behavior and safety on social media. The app has kids agree to a pledge that asks them to be kind, respectful, safe, and have fun in the app. They’ve also added stickers and other creative content that will encourage sending kind messages.

    Facebook has also added the ability for more than one parent to manage a kids app. This will allow both mom and dad to keep an eye on who is asking their kids to friend them on messenger. They recently removed the requirement for parents to be Facebook friends of each other in order to allow their kids to chat but this feature is a very parent-friendly addition. It is, in fact, a direct response to feedback from parents whose kids use the app.

    Facebook also announced that they’ll be releasing something called “Appreciation Mission” which will introduce children to some ways they can show appreciation to friends and family on Facebook Messenger Kids.

    What Parents Should Know

    Many experts are concerned about the amount of harassment and mistreatment on social media as well as the general overuse of our screens. A feature that helps kids understand the importance of kindness online is a very good idea. Thus far, Facebook Messenger for Kids is the best option out there to give your kids the freedom of a social media messenger within the boundaries you’ve decided are necessary to keep them safe. Be sure to follow the guidelines of the app and set some time limits to be sure your kids aren’t overusing their screens as video and photo messaging can make the time pass very quickly.