Snapchat’s new and improved parental control options are nearing launch, with new screenshots, based on the app’s back-end codes, showing how Snap’s coming ‘Family Center’ will appear. These images, shared by app intelligence company Watchful through TechCrunch, show how Family Center will enable parents to see who their child engages with on the app, along with information related to their contacts (i.e recent additions, following, etc.).
Family Friendly
This could help provide an additional level of assurance for parents, though it could also mean new challenges for Snap as well. This could lead to various new implications in the overall use of Snapchat for different user types, seeing as how the app has now become a key resource for more private and intimate connections – its anti-public posting ethos and disappearing messages help cement its place as an alternative to other social apps.
This is how Snap has embedded its niche. While other apps broadcast your life to the wider world, Snapchat is all about connecting with a small group of friends, where you can share your more private and secret thoughts, minus the worry of them lingering online forever and biting your hand one day.
On the other hand, that also raises certain questions and concerns regarding more ‘dangerous’ communications happening in the app. There have been various reports already investigating how Snap is used to send lewd messages and arrange hook-ups, while drug dealers now supposedly use it to organize meet-ups and sales. Of course, these would be the same reasons parents will be keen to get more insight into such, though we can’t really imagine Snapchatters will be so welcoming of such an ‘intrusive’ tool, at least in this respect.
However, if parents know that it exists, they just might have to, which could be problematic for Snap. Teen users will need to accept their parents’ invitation to enable Family Center monitoring, which you can imagine might be an issue for many younger users in the app.
The Wrap
In the end, the protective benefits do seem well worth it, with random hook-ups and other engagements posing significant risks. With kids as young as 13 able to create a Snapchat account, that also means that there are many vulnerable users who call the app home. Though it can increase security, it can also potentially reduce Snap’s overall appeal, especially as more parents become aware of the tool.
Snapchat hasn’t provided any further insight into its new Family Center just yet, nor has it released an official release schedule. However, based on these updates, it could very well be just around the corner.
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