Social media companies and platforms have been experiencing a huge growth period since the last 10 to 15 years. Millions of people from all over the world have joined and actively use different social platforms. According to a study around 16 people sign up on different social platform each second. This massive user base and growth have made social media companies rise to the top. While the amount of social media users keeps growing with each passing second, a large amount of users are young teens between 13 to 16 years of age. Young teen is an age period where a child experiences a huge development both physically and mentally. Between the age of 12 to 14, a teen is easily influenced and is more reluctant towards negative behavior which is why it is important to keep young teens away from negative influence and behavior.
Social media platforms sometimes have content that can have a negative influence on young teens. Apart from negatively influencing content and advertisements, social media platforms are also used by criminals and cyber attackers which sometimes target young teens on the platform. This problem after a long time has finally been acknowledged by different social platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
Instagram has recently announced an update that focuses on making the app much safer for young teens. Instagram in the update will make three key changes in its app.
The first and probably the biggest change following the update would be the limiting of young teens towards private accounts. After the update any user below the age of 16 will be limited to creating a private account. Furthermore, Instagram will also push existing under 16 users to switch their accounts to private.
The second change that the update brings with its self is something that will possibly limit the harassment and offensive behavior young teens face on the platform. The new update would allow Instagram to identify accounts which are potentially suspicious. Instagram would do this by analyzing if the account is previously blocked or reported by other teens. Once Instagram identifies an account for suspicious behavior, it would restrict it from contacting other young teens.
The third change after the update is one that will affect advertisers on Instagram that target young teens based on interest. After the update advertisers would not be able to choose things like interest and activity but would only be able to target young teens based on age, location and gender.
This new update will make young teens on Instagram have a much better experience. This update is also a positive step towards Instagram’s goal to make the platform available for ages less than 13.
Read next: Instagram ‘Reels’ to start supporting 60 seconds videos
Social media platforms sometimes have content that can have a negative influence on young teens. Apart from negatively influencing content and advertisements, social media platforms are also used by criminals and cyber attackers which sometimes target young teens on the platform. This problem after a long time has finally been acknowledged by different social platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
Instagram has recently announced an update that focuses on making the app much safer for young teens. Instagram in the update will make three key changes in its app.
The first and probably the biggest change following the update would be the limiting of young teens towards private accounts. After the update any user below the age of 16 will be limited to creating a private account. Furthermore, Instagram will also push existing under 16 users to switch their accounts to private.
The second change that the update brings with its self is something that will possibly limit the harassment and offensive behavior young teens face on the platform. The new update would allow Instagram to identify accounts which are potentially suspicious. Instagram would do this by analyzing if the account is previously blocked or reported by other teens. Once Instagram identifies an account for suspicious behavior, it would restrict it from contacting other young teens.
The third change after the update is one that will affect advertisers on Instagram that target young teens based on interest. After the update advertisers would not be able to choose things like interest and activity but would only be able to target young teens based on age, location and gender.
This new update will make young teens on Instagram have a much better experience. This update is also a positive step towards Instagram’s goal to make the platform available for ages less than 13.
Read next: Instagram ‘Reels’ to start supporting 60 seconds videos
