As it works to align with the expanding push for increased teen social media restrictions, Snapchat has announced some new updates to its Family Center tools, which will give parents more insight into how their kids are using the app, and who they’re connecting with.
First off, parents will now be able to view expanded insight into how kids are spending their time in the app, with an updated display that shows the total time each day, and how much time they’re spending using specific Snapchat features.
As you can see in this example, parents will be able to see how much time their kids spent engaging with messages in the app, using the camera, the map, or checking out Spotlight and Stories. That’ll give parents more context as to how their kids are using the platform, which could help to better manage screen time.
Snapchat’s also adding new “Trust Signals” info within the Family Center, which will give parents more context as to who their kids are engaging with in the app.
As explained by Snap:
“Now, when a teen adds a new friend on Snapchat, parents will be able to see how their teen might know the person - whether they have mutual friends, are saved in their contact book, and which communities they belong to. These trust signals make it easier for parents to understand new connections and have greater confidence that their teen is chatting with someone they know in real life.”
The new trust signals will provide basic info on how your child is connected with each user, with highlights to signify these four elements:
- Can View Location — Your teen shares their location with this person
- XX+ Mutual Friends — Your teen and this person share XX+ many mutual friends
- In Contact Book — This person is saved in your teen’s device contacts
- [Community Name] — This person is part of the same high school or college community as your teen.
That will help parents ensure that their children are not engaging with random strangers on the app, and potentially putting themselves at risk through such.
Snap’s also launched a new Family Center video, which provides an overview of all the key features, while it’s also embedded Snapchat’s online safety program directly into Family Center to make it easier to find and access.
It’s been a difficult few months for Snap, with the platform losing around 8.5 million users, due to a ban in Russia, and Australia’s new teen social media rules.
And with many more regions considering similar teen access limits for social apps, Snapchat could be the hardest hit, with the majority of its users falling into the younger teen bracket.
As such, these updates could prove important, as Snap works to reassure parents that the app is safe, and that it can be trusted with the responsibility to keep it that way.
