In our surveys with over 5,000 middle school and high school students, we see Facebook is missing in the top 10 most popular social platforms among teens. Instagram and Snapchat are the new malls. "Once parents show up, kids head over to the new mall. "Think of Facebook as the mall on a Friday night," she said.
"This new Messenger Kids app from Facebook is the platform's last hope to get teens flocking back, despite adults being there," Tierney tells me. Tierney works with parents and schools and recommends safe and healthy social media practices for kids and families. So it's not like anyone else can look up your child,” she said in the interview.Ī parent-controlled app sounds great on the surface for families that need this sort of thing, but will kids use it and should they use it? I checked in with Laura Tierney, social media expert and founder of The Social Institute. “The unique thing about this was, and the thing I really liked about it, that it's not a profile. In an interview with NBC's Today, Nikki Fountas said the app offers a way for her kids ages 10 and 6 to communicate with their grandmother, who lives in another state.
With it, kids can video chat or send photos, videos or text messages with those parent-approved contacts and explore kid-appropriate GIFs, frames, stickers, masks and drawing tools.Īt least one Raleigh family was able to test the new app before it was released. "Parents fully control the contact list and kids can’t connect with contacts that their parent does not approve," Facebook says. What's more, says Facebook, Messenger Kids puts parents in the driver's seat. Messenger Kids won't automatically turn into a traditional Facebook account once a child turns 13. Messenger Kids can be controlled from a parent's Facebook account, but it is a standalone app that kids can access on their tablets or smartphones. Now, with Messenger Kids, the social media giant has an official way for the youngest screen addicts among us to get on Facebook. We probably all know at least one tween with their own Facebook page, but, officially, Facebook requires users to be no younger than 13. Messenger Kids, according to Facebook, "makes it easier for kids to safely video chat and message with family and friends when they can't be together in person."
#FACEBOOK MESSENGER FOR KIDS ANDROID#
Later this month it’ll be rolled out to Android users though there's no word on any plans to extend the app to any more countries at the moment.Facebook on Tuesday rolled out a new app in the United States that's designed just for kids. The app is still in the early stages of its release and is currently in a preview-only state in the US for iOS users. Rather than taking these stickers from the main Messenger app, Facebook has created art that’s age-appropriate and in some cases intended to educate.
Rather than encouraging text chat, Messenger Kids places heavy emphasis on real-time video calls which allow them to use emoji, selfie frames and stickers.
It will, after all, be natural for a child that's been using the Messenger Kids app from the ages of 6 to 12 to create a Facebook account of their own at the age of 13 and continue to communicate with the messaging app they're familiar with. It seems likely that Facebook is using the fact that children are accessing technology at much younger ages to familiarise them with Facebook applications and create something of a user pipeline. The Messenger Kids app is fairly similar to the adult Messenger app in terms of overall interface, although it's much brighter.