Appropriate

Real-time, photo and video sharing is an exciting trend – particularly for younger generations who are resistant against the more traditional, Facebook-like, social networking platforms. WeChat is a free media sharing app. It’s rated 17+ in app stores, and although some parents might not have heard of WeChat, it is one of the most popular social media apps with almost million monthly active users – many of them, underagers. Listen today to learn more about some of the unique features as well as concerns around this China-based, media-sharing platform.  

This week's episode is about Live.Me. Live.me is a live streaming video app that allows users to watch or broadcast live-stream videos, similar to Musical.ly or YouTube. Live.Me may seem like a way for younger children to wade into social media, like Musical.ly, but it is not. Download this week to learn more about these cautions, and what parents should keep this in mind when deciding if their younger children should use this app.

Meet me Is a teen-focused, location-based dating app. Like FB, users create a profile complete with pictures and comments and followers.  Is it a safe and suitable place for finding your first, adolescent love, or is it just another way for vulnerable minors and the people who prey on them to connect? Find out when you download this week, and learn some tips and tricks to keep your kids from downloading potentially dangerous apps.

This week’s episode is about Google Docs. Google docs fall into the word processing and presentation app categories, and is rated 4+ in app stores.. Why, you might ask is a social networking podcast discussing a document processing app? Download next week to find out!  

Today’s episode is about Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet. Over Google's history, the company has launched over a dozen voice and text chat apps, with Google Hangouts being the famed search engine’s most popular and prominent example of a social media app. BUT, Google Hangouts announced its retirement in October 2018, and is set to be replaced with Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet.    

This week’s episode is about Google Hangouts. Google Hangouts is a messaging platform which allows users to message friends and make video or voice calls either through a mobile device or a desktop browser. Just as you can hang out with your friends in real life at parks, people’s houses or Starbucks, you can hang out with people on Google+ in what are basically video chat rooms where you see and hear everyone in the room.

In September 1998, the “Google.com” domain name was registered, and a new search engine joined the Internet. In light of that, the next few episodes of APPropriate will be a Google-themed mini-series dedicated to Google’s suite of apps, it’s past, future, it’s general impact on out larger culture and its specific impact on our kids. This first episode is about Google+ Obviously and officially the current, social networking platform for Google; the world's largest and most popular search engine.

This week's episode is about Instagram, an online photo/ video sharing social networking service that lets users take pictures and videos, alter them digitally in cool and unique ways and share them in sort of an online, streaming scrapbook. Instagram is age-appropriate for middle schoolers AND there are a couple of pink flags to be aware of as a parent. Download today to learn why a Finsta may (or may not be) one of them, do deep dive with me into the second most populated social media app on the planet, and the first one your kids will want to download.  

This week’s episode is about Amino - a connected community for teens, with the intention of bringing them together based on passionate attention base or a pop culture phenomenon - similar to Reddit or Tumblr. This also means there is potential for negativity and toxic people to join with the intention to harass or take advantage. Download today to hear more about these issues, as well as other red flags for parenting around this popular app, and how to set yourself up with my Internet safety guidelines.  

Today’s episode is about Facebook Messenger Kids - a kids’ version of Facebook’s chat app, Messenger, making Facebook the first of the major social networks to put out a social media app specifically for children under 13.  

Steam is an online distribution platform for users to play a curated library of hosted games, spanning numerous genres, from recreational to educational – think iTunes or Netflix, but for games...

Sarahah is known as an “honesty” app (in fact the word is Arabic for honesty) allowing users to send anonymous messages to their friends through other apps. It has also been known as a massive cyberbullying tool.

This week’s episode is about FaceApp, the AI-powered selfie-editing app which lets you alter photos of your face, once again has gone viral as #faceappchallenges and age-accelerating posts have flooded social media feeds and raised concerns around FaceApp’s country of origin, privacy issues  and the rights you grant them by using the app, and the bigger-picture culture of apps that farm our information, and why. Download now to learn more about these concerns, hear what I think is an impressive and breathless reading of their terms of service and some tips on navigating privacy and protection issues in social media,    

WhatsApp allows users to send (unlimited) text messages, and voice/video calls over the Internet to other users for free, avoiding the limits and over costs of data plans. Mostly a college thing or while traveling abroad or communicating with friends and family in other countries, though younger teens are attracted to WhatsApp primarily because it isNOT Facebook, and offers a degree of privacy, as many adults are not familiar with the app. WhatsApp has both positives and red flags, download today and learn more about them as well as my guidelines for under-16’s.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/appropriate/id1456036179 Yubo (previously known as Yellow) Yubo basically turns Snapchat (and a handful or other platforms) into Tinder. Download today to learn more about Tinder, its connection to Snapchat, why it had to change its name and its growing popularity. #Apps #Parenting #Kids #Yubo

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/appropriate/id1456036179 This week’s episodes is about Mappen, a social networking app designed tolet users create maps of their favorite places and share both their maps and their real-time location with their friends. Download today to learn more about Mappen’s ironic privacy policies and location sharing concerns. #Apps #Parenting #Kids #Mappen #Tinder

This week’s episode is about AfterSchool AfterSchool is an anonymous, chat board app - similar to the now defunct YikYak app, including similar attention, problems and complaints from parents and teachers. Download today to hear more about “A safe place for kids to publish thoughts when not at school without fear that a parent or relative will see the content,” any why it’s becoming more and more popular with middle and elementary schoolers. #Apps #Parenting #Kids #AfterSchool  

YouTube falls into the media sharing/ content curation AND the livestreaming / connection motivated app categories. YouTube is a free, media sharing site, making it possible to both create and consume videos, music and other forms of media. The go-to, for culture, trends and connection - the newest incarnation of that “sex, drugs and rock n’ roll” that teens have gravitated toward since the beginning of time. Because of this I have broken this app into two podcasts, this one - about creating content on YouTube, and last week’s part-one episode about consuming content on YouTube.  

YouTube falls into the media sharing/ content curation AND the livestreaming / connection motivated app categories. YouTube is a free, media sharing site, making it possible to both create and consume videos, music and other forms of media. The go-to, for culture, trends and connection - the newest incarnation of that “sex, drugs and rock n’ roll” that teens have gravitated toward since the beginning of time. Because of this we are going to break this app into two podcasts, this one - about consuming content on YouTube, and a Part-2 episode about creating content on YouTube.

This week's episode is about Tumblr, one of the largest art platforms online today. Tumblr is a cross between a social network and a microblogging platform (like a blog & Twitter had a baby), that allows users to post multimedia and other content to a sort of online, streaming scrapbook or art portfolio.