simply as pre-teens within the 1990s had been warned far from dialing 1-900 numbers, youngsters now should find out how to navigate social media responsibly. Kudos, an app for youngsters aged eight to 13 with around-the-clock moderation, positions itself as a safe introduction to social media that also teaches its younger users, some of whom have been born before the first iPhone was released, the way to be “good digital residents.”
previously headquartered in Oslo, Norway, Kudos recently moved to Palo Alto, California and is now rolling out the app in the u.s.. Kudos originated as a photograph sharing app called Kuddle in 2014. in view that then, the app has changed its identify, brought many new features and employed a crew that comprises alumni from Disney, Dreamworks, Pixar and Instagram. The startup says it has raised $ 5.7 million in seed funding from particular person buyers.
Kudos is designed for youngsters aged eight to 13, but its most active users are between 9 and eleven years historical. whereas some fogeys might question why their preteens even should be on social media (or have entry to a smartphone), co-founder and chief government officer Ole Vidar Hestaas says Kudos desires to train them the way to communicate and reside secure online.
Hestaas, a serial entrepreneur, grew to be attracted to constructing a social network for children after his son, who was then seven years historical, saw his older sisters the use of Instagram and Snapchat. After being informed he became too younger to sign up for either carrier, Hestaas’ son requested him to create a platform just for children.
“like all parent, i used to be involved about the competencies for bullying and exposure to inappropriate content if my son used the apps that had been designed for children over 13. So when my son challenged me to create an app, I dove in head first, realizing that this was a necessity for all children and could have the competencies to make a massive wonderful influence on the way children join and share on social media,” Vestaas said in an e mail.
He provides that with the aid of sharing photographs, feedback and reactions on Kudos, the app can train its younger users how to speak on-line. Kudos is crammed with consistent reminders to maintain things high-quality. as an instance, remark boxes inform clients to “depart a nice remark” and all businesses are created by means of Kudos, with prompts for sharing “written in encouraging language,” says Hestaas.
The app additionally appoints ambassadors who model decent habits for different Kudos clients. Like facebook, youngsters can react to a post, however unlike facebook, there are best three reactions and all of them are positive. The app displays content material by combining 24-hour human moderation with text and graphic monitoring application and sends fogeys notifications about their children’ undertaking.
All this could sound slightly cloying, however the contemporary success of tbh, which calls itself “the simplest anonymous app with fine vibes,” shows that many children crave safer, kinder easy methods to connect with their friends on-line. For preteens, protecting issues upbeat isn’t just wholesome. It’s also about protection. for instance, Kudos doesn’t have a one-on-one chat in order to steer clear of its users from being drawn into bad conversations.
Of course, the app’s problem is convincing children that Kudos, with its safeguards, is barely as unique as Instagram, Snapchat and the other apps they see older kids the use of.
Hestaas claims that “notably, we are able to inform from studies and consumer remarks that the youngsters themselves in reality admire that Kudos is moderated, safer and focused on the nice experiences of sharing.” in the future, Kudos can provide celebrities a spot to connect with younger lovers who aren’t allowed on different social media platforms yet, but will keep away from promoting because it builds a monetization method. If Kudos succeeds in adding new features and content material that keep its viewers engaged, “our clients won’t be as excited to sign in for Instagram or Snapchat,” Hestaas says.
Featured image: Sol de Zuasnabar Brebbia/Getty photos
https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/gettyimages-518690312.jpg?w=210&h=158&crop=1
Social – TechCrunch
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Google+
LinkedIn
RSS