Snapchat’s newest ‘Family Center’ feature allows parents to monitor who their teenagers are chatting with, but without seeing the content of their messages. The social media app recently announced in a blog post that the ‘Family Center’ function would allow parents to view the friends list and Snapchat names of who is chatting with their child, and announced plans to expand the feature’s capabilities to see newly added friends on these lists.
Snapchat is also rumored to be adding more content control features and ways for teens to let a parent know when they have reported an account or content to Snapchat in an effort to prevent abuse.
"Family Center is designed to reflect the way that parents engage with their teens in the real world, where parents usually know who their teens are friends with and when they are hanging out – but don’t eavesdrop on their private conversations," Snap Inc. said in a statement.
Parent-Focused Social Features
Snapchat's 'Family Center' Allows Parents to Protect Their Kids
Trend Themes
1. Parental Controls - Other social media apps could develop similar parental control features to appeal to safety-conscious parents.
2. Youth Protection - Companies can innovate with new features to protect younger users while still giving them a degree of independence and privacy.
3. Collaborative Family Services - As technology expands, there's an opportunity for new apps and services allowing families more collaboration and involvement with their teenagers' online experiences.
Industry Implications
1. Social Media - Social media companies can incorporate similar parental control features into their existing apps, or develop new apps specifically aimed at offering more family-based safety features.
2. Mobile App Development - As parents demand more oversight and protection of their children's online experiences, there will be an increased need for mobile app developers to create new apps or to add features to existing ones.
3. Youth-focused Technology - Companies can focus more heavily on youth-focused technology, creating devices and applications that suit their requirements – and that are safe, fun and engaging for young users.