Family Tech Blog

Tag: social media

Now ANYONE Can Make a Facebook Camera Filter!

Augmented Reality (AR) and Location Filters have become a mainstay of the social media camera. Snapchat started and Instagram, Facebook quickly followed suit, and before you know it, we’re all posting images and videos of ourselves with animated beards, mustaches, and hats. Your favorite fancy additions to your photos have always been created by select developers or advertisers so that those who run our favorite social media outlets can keep tabs on what’s being allowed on their platform. That has now, officially, changed. Facebook has opened up their public Filter and AR creator tools.

“Starting today, we’re expanding availability of the platform and the AR Studio creative tool to everyone.” – https://www.facebook.com/FacebookforDevelopers/

It’s truly as simple as going to the facebook developers site and downloading the AR software. Making non-AR overlays is even easier. The tool is built into the website. You simply upload your images and move them around wherever you’d like on the screen. You can use the tools to resize and edit your image as well as to remove the background so you get a transparent effect. While making a 3D mask takes some coding and design experience, making an overlay is a pretty simple process that just about anyone should be able to do.

What Parents Should Know

Obviously, there is no stopping the “AR train.” We all love taking photos with those crazy filters and it’s so neat to put some strange creature on your countertop and film it playing the guitar. Until now, we could trust that content being posted as filters on the Facebook camera had been created by legitimate developers and didn’t contain anything that wasn’t allowed by Facebook’s guidelines. Allowing public access to these tools basically makes filters and AR User Generated Content. I made one for FamilyTechBlog in about six minutes. There was no approval process (as far as I could tell) which leads me to believe that inappropriate content will only be identified by a “user flag and review” system. This could lead to who knows what kind of violent or adult-oriented filters showing up on our Facebook (and most likely eventually Instagram) camera.

My advice for parents is to continue to talk to your kids about what content they use and see on their social media accounts. User Generated Content means that most of what has been posted hasn’t been edited or reviewed by anyone who can pull down non-approved posts. Algorithms and a flag system can only get so far in protecting our families from dangerous content. Parents should always be seeing what is posted by their kids and what their kids are seeing in the apps they use.

December 13, 2017
PODCAST: 2017 in Review and What’s to Come in 2018

Podcast: Play in new window
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS

Exciting new things coming in 2018 for BecauseFamily. This episode rounds out the rest of 2017 and gives you a heads up as to what to look out for in the coming year.

Social Media Links

Facebook: http://facebook.com/4pointfamilies
Instagram: http://instagram.com/becausefamily
Twitter: http://twitter.com/becausefamily

Newsletter Signup

Ministry Updates:: http://eepurl.com/R7Btr
Weekly Blog Posts:: http://eepurl.com/cvnhXD

Websites

Ministry Site:: http://becausefamily.org
Tech Blog:: https://safe.becausefamily.org
Michael’s Speaking Info:: http://kmichaelprince.org

Donate and Affiliate Links

http://BecauseFamily.org/partnership

December 8, 2017
This Week So Far: Social Media News

Youtube want’s 10,000 people making sure their videos are safe.

YouTube has been blasted recently for allowing inappropriate videos onto their kids app and allowing abusive comments on videos featuring children. They responded by shutting down some abusive channels and working harder to fix their algorithms that identify videos as safe for kids. Their latest change is going to increase the manpower involved in curating kid-safe content.

YouTube claims that they are aiming at 10,000 new employees whose job it will be to strengthen their algorithms, enforce reviewing policies, watch and remove flagged videos, and respond to concerned users about content. This increase in manpower should be a step towards a safer YouTube but is it too late?

Several companies have already pulled their advertising from YouTube stating that the platform needs to fix their content policies. YouTube responded fast once their bottom line was affected. This is good for parents since more people responding to problems should keep some of the worst video content off of YouTube.

You can save your Instagram Stories posts.

Instagram Stories is in the news again and this time they’re making it permanent. Until now your Story videos and photos lasted 24 hours and then disappeared. Instagram’s latest update now gives you the option to turn on archiving for Stories. Once turned on the archiving feature will save your Story videos and photos alongside the ones you’ve archived from your main Instagram posts.

Archiving Stories can be a good tool for parents to use to keep their eyes on what their kids have been uploading to Instagram. Have your kid turn on this feature. If you are logged into their account on your phone you can turn the feature on yourself and see what they have shared even if you don’t check every day.

What Parents Should Know

With the release of the Facebook Messenger Kids app, YouTube trying to make videos safer, and Instagram making videos and photos more permanent, we are seeing some movement towards a safer social media experience. Still, the dangers exist and we have to be vigilant as parents to know was happening and what our kids are doing on social media. Hopefully, these updates keep you in the loop and help you make quality decisions for your family.

December 6, 2017
Released Today: Facebook Messenger For Kids!

Kids love social media. They like sending messages to friends and family. They absolutely love using filters and masks to share silly images of themselves. The problem is that social media wasn’t created for kids. It is for grown ups. That makes the social media world dangerous for our -13 kids. Enter Facebook, who is now trying to make social media and messaging safer for our children. Messenger Kids was released in the U.S. today on ios and the new app brings some favorite Facebook messenger features to our youngest family members.

You set up your child’s account for them and they don’t need a Facebook profile to use Messenger Kids. Once you’ve downloaded the app and logged in with your own Facebook info, it will let you add your kids to the app and then ask them to take a photo and enter some information. Then, as simple as that they’re able to chat with you. To add contacts you search or browse your friend list and give your child permission to contact them by clicking “Add.” It can all be done from your own Facebook settings without access to your child’s device. They can also ask permission to add someone to their messenger app.

As far as privacy and settings, Facebook has to be pretty specific with their rules. For example, Messenger Kids doesn’t collect ad data, their profile won’t show up in search, there is no advertising within the app, and there is no automatic account upgrade once your kids reach Facebook’s approved age. This is good news and proves that Facebook put some thought and research into what would make the Messenger Kids app fun and safe for kids. Messages don’t disappear and can’t be deleted or hidden. If an inappropriate image is sent, the child can report and the parents will be alerted that their kid has reported something that made them uncomfortable. One of the very few cons of the app is that parents can’t see videos or messages that their kids have sent and received except for taking the device and looking for themselves. This is also, likely, due to privacy concerns and legal issues but it sure would be nice to at least be able to see messages that have been reported by our kids.

What Parents to Should Know

It isn’t very often I can fully recommend an app to parents but so far, I’m feeling like Messenger Kids meets my standards. The GIF options are curated by editors, not an algorithm and the filters are carefully selected and designed just for kids. Control is in the hands of the parent and that is exactly what I’m always wanting to see when it comes to apps designed for kids. The concern about time management does remain, however, so it is important to make sure your children are spending enough time doing other things. Messaging with family and friends can be fun but it is still screen time and it has been proven that kids need more than just screen time as entertainment. Use time management apps or just your own enforcement to be sure that your kids are only using Messenger Kids as long as you’ve decided is healthy.

It’s great to see an app that brings features that kids love into a safer environment for them. I downloaded this app and have set up an account for my 10-year-old son. He has already enjoyed sending messages, using the camera filters, and even playing an AR game that is included. Why don’t you check the app out too and send me a message or email me and let me know what you think?

December 4, 2017
Social Media News: Youtube, Snapchat, and Instagram Update Information

Here’s a rundown of the social media news for this week thus far.

Snapchat is changing “everything.”

In an attempt to increase both user numbers and ad revenue, Snapchat is making some major UI (User Interface [the buttons, controls, and setting options on an app or software that allow you to use the app or software.]) changes. In a video by CEO Evan Speigel, he claims that the new Snapchat will separate your social from the media. He says that “your friends aren’t content, they’re relationships” and should be kept separate from the paid advertising and influencer content on the Discover page.

Friends on the left…then the camera.

Then the Discover page on the right.

The app will still feature the “swipe right/swipe left” control style with the left being your friends and right being the Discover page. The Discover page seems to be going through a bit of an upgrade too with animated thumbnails (title images) and including more content from influencers along with the paid media articles. Snap Inc. is hoping this change will make the Snapchat app more appealing to more users and increase buy-in from those who have installed it but don’t use it much. Only time will tell.

Instagram now lets you ask to join live stories.

Instagram released the ability to join a friend’s live story just a few weeks ago. The feature has gained some popularity but they’re hoping that the latest addition will make the Live story an even more integral part of the Instagram experience. The latest update allows audience members to request to join a live video on their friend’s Instagram. It isn’t as much an added feature as it is a streamlining of one they released previously.

Being able to ask to join a live story will increase the visibility of many Instagram accounts and could cause users to spend more time on Instagram. That, at least is what the company is counting on.

Youtube is soon adding a “stories” type feature of their own.

The Story feed was started by Snapchat, perfected by Instagram, and flopped on Facebook. Now Youtube wants in on the action. Reels is Youtube’s answer to the latest social trend. This addition lets content creators create quick 30 second vertical videos to keep their followers updated on what’s happening. It lets vloggers and video creators make more content with less commitment.

The biggest difference from the other Story features is that Youtube’s Reel videos will not disappear and they can make multiple Reel videos. Youtube has been trying to make their app more social and it’s obvious that Reels are a huge step in that direction. They haven’t announced when Reels will be released but you can count on the S.A.F.E. Family Tech Blog to let you know when they do.

What Parents Should Know

It’s always important for parents to understand what their kids’ favorite apps are capable of. For many of our children, Social Media apps are the most commonly used. These recent updates should help you be informed about what your children can do with these apps. My advice is always to download these apps for yourself so you can play with all the features. Talk to your kids about what the apps are best used for and what behavior you believe to be healthy or not healthy on social media. Use examples and share about difficult social experiences you’ve had that would have been even worse if they had been online. Strengthen your child’s sense of self-awareness and confidence to ensure they represent themselves in a healthy way online. Most of all, keep an eye on what your kids are posting on their social media accounts and continue to stay informed so that you can be ahead of the social media curve.

November 30, 2017
Partner with BecauseFamily on #GivingTuesday

BecauseFamily exists to inspire and equip parents to be the first influence in the lives of their children. We do that by hosting workshops, seminars, and events. We also do that with this blog. The goal of Family Tech Blog is to help parents be informed about the digital world their kids are growing up in. The blog is free, Living Room Workshops are free, the podcast is free, our YouTube videos are free! All free! We keep them free with the goal of removing any barrier to parents learning the things they need to know to raise digital natives. We can’t keep producing your free content without financial partnership.

BecauseFamily is a non-profit ministry and can only do what we do because of the generosity of those who give monthly and those who donate at our fundraiser events. Offline, BecauseFamily does even more than what you see on this blog. We are in area schools, educating teachers on how to keep their classroom internet safe. We work with families to set up restrictions and parental controls on their devices. We speak in our area churches and organizations and share the tools and resources we’ve found that can help keep kids S.A.F.E. online. BecauseFamily is working every single day to keep parents informed, teens secure, and kids safe. Your gift to BecauseFamily can help us keep our work going.

Visit BecauseFamily.org/partnership to sign up to give. Thank you for reading the Family Tech Blog and for sharing this post. We have big plans for our work for families and we can only accomplish these plans with your help.

November 28, 2017
Snapchat’s New Filters Can Recognize Items in your Photos

Snapchat’s new camera filters can now identify items in your photo and recommend AR graphics, borders, or stickers for you to add. The action is automatic and will insert recommendations into the filter carousel. To my knowledge you cannot turn off this feature, it is now a stock part of the Snapchat camera. The camera can recognize pets, sports equipment or events, food, and even specific locations.

These are powerful tools for Snapchat users, especially paired with their geofilters which is strictly based on your location data. Besides just making your recommended filters more relevant, these new filters will make it easier for advertisers to target their ads more specifically. Turning off your location information won’t be enough anymore, your camera can now give advertisers clues (automatically based on software and algorithms) as to where you spend your time. This is big news for advertisers and even bigger news for tech safety and security specialists.

What Parents Should Know

My advice is to always turn off the location data on your kid and young teen’s phone. I recommend only sharing location information when you’ve left somewhere, never while you’re there. There are many reasons for that advice, including not alerting people that you aren’t home and not making it easier for predators to figure out where you spend your time. If your camera is using the things in your photos to tag your location then you have lost control over your location data. That, to me, is a problem. Snapchat has been on my uninstall list for a while and this news just strengthens my case against it. Snapchat’s goal is to service financially and they are now making decisions to make their product the best advertising tool available to brands all over the world. This means forsaking the privacy and security of their users and most of their users are your teens. Uninstall Snapchat now. There…I said it.

November 27, 2017
Snapchat Outage Reveals Some Serious Priority Concerns

A Snapchat outage on Monday left millions unable to send disappearing filtered messages to their friends. This was a bad enough problem for users of Snapchat but the problem intensified when service resumed and they realized their “Streaks” had ended. Snapchat has used a system they call “Snap Streaks” to encourage users to send messages to each other more consistently. Every day you send a message adds a number to your streak. When the app was down for nearly an entire day, some people were unable to send messages within the 24hr deadline. This caused their streaks to end.

People took to Twitter to address their concerns with Snapchat. They complained that their streaks of 25, 100, and some even 500 days had been lost and they were not happy about it. Snap Inc’s support division stated that they were working on restoring streaks that were lost during the outage and asked folks to be patient and report if they had lost their records.

What Parents Should Know

The focus on streaks is simply another symptom of a culture that is telling our kids that the highest form of acceptance is being accepted socially by your peers. My full thoughts on this topic are on a video on our Facebook page but I’ll summarize here. Many of our kids are very very serious about their social media accounts. They are highly concerned with the number of followers they have and how many likes their pictures and videos get. Some of them have separate accounts, on one of which they post the version of themselves they want everyone to see, and the other is used for their silly, nerdy, or even sexy side. This social media self-image focus can be cause for serious concerns. It’s important for us as parents to help our kids understand who they are, what they should be focusing on, and what healthy use of social media looks like. Their friends are “all doing it.” But you may have to be the first parent to decide to put your guard up.

(External Link) You can watch my video here:

November 9, 2017
Superzoom on Instagram and Share Links in Snapchat

Every update announced by the developers of the apps your kids use isn’t earth shattering but you should still know what’s going on. This week has been a pretty slow internet safety update week but some teen favorite social media platforms have released some updates in the last couple of days. These updates are mostly cosmetic seasonal features but they’ll be interesting to your kids so they’re worth learning about.

Instagram Superzoom

Remember the dramatic chipmunk? He’s the cute little guy on the youtube video that gave an epic, three-level zoom, dramatic (and comical) look. There was a song and everything. Instagram has added a feature to their camera that can give you that same hilarious zoom in effect. The product manager for Instagram said they’ve seen users making funny “zoom in” videos in their story and wanted to give them a tool to make this easier. The feature zooms into whatever you’ve told the camera to focus on, it will work on the front or rear facing camera, and even features the dramatic orchestration you’d expect to hear from such an epic shot. This feature comes today along with some Halloween filters and masks.

Snapchat Link Sharing

Snapchat will now let you share links from other apps in iOS. Pulling up the “share sheet” or sharing menu will now show you the option to share in Snapchat. This is a pretty big change for Snapchat who previously didn’t do much to affect usage outside of the app itself. Links will still open within Snapchat’s web browser but more and more content can now make its way into the app through the accessibility of link sharing. Also, Snapchat is changing the way you view Snaps from within the app by letting you press and hold a friend’s name anywhere in the app to open their Story. Finally, there is a new feature that will allow you to go into “Ghost mode” temporarily, setting your location to stay hidden for 3 hours, 24 hours, or “until I turn it off.”

What Parents Should Know

Every update brings more features that our kids love on their social media apps. We should know what these features are and what they mean for how our kids use the app. Camera effects and modes add interest and fun but may cause the young kid you’ve been keeping off of social media to ask you even more if they can join. Truthfully, Snapchat is late in the game when it comes to link sharing. It’s been possible in so pretty much every other social media app out there for a long time. Being able to bring links into Snapchat from any other app increases the potential for it to be used to share different sites between users. This could include sites you’d consider inappropriate. My advice is to turn on built-in filters on your iOS devices as they should make it harder if not impossible to access adult content on any browser on the phone.

October 26, 2017
PODCAST: The Myth of Online Anonymity

Podcast: Play in new window
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS

PODCAST: Michael talks about how to use blacklists and whitelists on your web filters, the polling app craze, and how the myth of anonymity is hurting our kids.

Social Media Links

Facebook: http://facebook.com/becausefamily

Instagram: http://instagram.com/becausefamily

Twitter: http://twitter.com/becausefamily

Newsletter Sign-up

Ministry Updates:: http://eepurl.com/R7Btr

Weekly Blog Posts:: http://eepurl.com/cvnhXD

Websites

Ministry Site:: http://becausefamily.org

Tech Blog:: https://safe.becausefamily.org

Michael’s Speaking Info:: http://kmichaelprince.org

Donate and Affiliate Links

Accountable2You.com Affiliate Link: https://www.accountable2you.com/?code=19877592

http://BecauseFamily.org/partnership

October 23, 2017