Facebook has expanded messenger for kids in more than 70 countries to meet the growing demands of kids’ social activities. The feature will roll out to the rest of the world in the coming weeks. Most parents are turning to technology to help their kids reconnect with friends and family amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Messenger Kids is a video chat and messaging app that helps kids connect with friends and family in a fun, parent-controlled space. It allows kids to connect through groups. They can build a community through their circle of friends at school and participate in a team sport. While allowing parents to approve an adult to connect their child with other approved kids.
Parental control is at the heart of Messenger Kids. Parents manage who their kid interacts with and can monitor their child’s activity in the app through the Parent Dashboard, where they can also download their child’s information at any time.
“We know privacy and security are particularly important when it comes to kids online, and we take the responsibility to protect kids’ information seriously”
Parents will be notified every new contact is added for their child. And can manage the list of contacts and approved adults through the Parent Dashboard. Once connected through a group, kids will also be able to chat with each other individually. Kids can also leave groups they’re added to at any time. Visit the Help Center to learn more.
This is a powerful opportunity and a teachable moment for parents to have a conversation with their kids. Especially about the life-long skill of choosing one’s friends. Both face to face and online,” said Dr. Bernstein. “In addition to allowing parents more ways to manage their child’s messaging experience. Supervised Friending develops kids’ autonomy to decide who they do or don’t want to connect with. while parents can observe, provide guidance, and step in as necessary.”
