Snapchat, the popular instant messaging service, has introduced a new feature called Family Center which allows parents “get more insight into who their teens are friends with on Snapchat, and who they have been communicating with, without revealing any of the substance of those conversations.”
According to the company in a statement, “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.”
The company also says, in a couple of weeks, it will be adding a new feature that will allow parents to easily view new friends their teens have added.
Snapchat said it worked with families to come up with the needs of parents and teens in this new feature. It also consulted with experts in online safety and wellbeing to incorporate their feedback and insights.
“Our goal was to create a set of tools designed to reflect the dynamics of real-world relationships and foster collaboration and trust between parents and teens.”
In January, Snap launched a feature limiting the number of friend suggestions teenagers see on its app, via its Quick Add menu. According to the company, kids between the ages of 13 to 17 only receive suggestions for accounts that “have a certain number of friends in common with that person.”
