What is Musical.ly?

Musical ly is a free social media app that allows you to create, watch and share videos for free mainly to a soundtrack of the top hits in music. You can use the app on your phone. Musical ly has become incredibly popular among children nowadays but with a drastic increase in its popularity, it is very difficult for parents to know if it’s really safe for their children to use musical ly app.  With the usage of any social media platforms, users have to make sure the amount of information they want to disclose to the public. As of now, there is no way for a user to delete their musical ly account. While Musical ly is very interesting and trending app among teens which keeps them up to date on interesting things their friends are doing but it has become an important concern for parents and also a spot for cyber crimes, cyberbullying and online threats that parents should look out for.

Here are some questions which are frequently asked by parents about the Musical ly app

1.What is the recommended age to use musical ly?

The first thing that parents should be concerned about Musical ly is the age requirement.  In the company’s privacy policy they have briefly mentioned about the age restriction to the app which require that users be at least 13 years old to use this platform. This takes up the liability out of the company’s hands and now the whole pressure is on parents about what their kids use in their devices. If something goes wrong the company cannot be held responsible. Parents can see many real-life examples where kids are asked to send their nude pictures and there are some naïve children or kids who are not familiar with cybersecurity guidelines, who would reply to such texts. Parents will not even realize how these people can get into their kids head within a very short span of time.

2. How safe is musically for my children?

It is very easy to create your profile on musical ly as compared to other social media platforms.  When you sign up for musical ly your account is public by default means anyone can have access to the information that you have provided in your profile. Here, parents shall make sure to turn on the privacy settings of all the account their kids are using online so that the kids can only interact with people whom they know. Nowadays kids get mobile devices at a very early stage and also they learn to operate it very quickly. As the app is a combination of pre-teen and young adult users, the young users are able to post any type of video that they would like to post. Many young users may not know what is appropriate and what is inappropriate to post on social media. With that, they may end up posting their phone numbers or location publicly. Therefore the best solution to this problem is that parent must ensure that the privacy settings of their kid’s accounts are always turned on or enabled to keep them safe and secure.

Case study:  A mum from Birmingham posted online: “My eight-year-old daughter is being followed on the site and what looks like grooming her also – he’s been messaging my daughter sending her pics and requesting pics from her.”

The horrified mum reported the messages to police and continues to be worried about her daughter.

ReadMore   https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/horrified-parents-warn-paedophiles-using-8363035

3.How can parents safeguard the content in musical ly?

Another thing that parents need to be concerned about is the content of the app. As the app provides lip syncing on lyrics, the songs in the app are not always appropriate for all individuals. There are songs which talk about partying, smoking, drinking etc in their lyrics which are not appropriate for children. The content in the app is not appropriate for all its users. The worst part is the dance moves that the kids will do just to fit in perfectly with the lyrics. There is no real solution to this problem other than the parents taking care of their children and educating them about the inappropriate content available in the app.

4.How can parents monitor their kid’s activity on musically and on social media?

By using Nischint parental control on your mobile devices it’s is very easy for parents to monitor their teens & tweens musically and social media profiles remotely. Also, parents can be a friend of their kids on their social media profiles or else parents can also ask about their kids favourite musers this is how they can get know their kid’s interest. Parents shall always spare some time to look at the most trending songs, videos etc.  

5.Should Parents let their kids have an account on Musical ly?

Pros:

1. It is a fun and creative app for the children which is absolutely free to download.
2. Muser’s film themselves lip-syncing to songs, dancing or performing comedy skits which will help your children to develop their soft skills.
3. It will then give a list of your kid’s friends who are already using the app, who they can follow, and as well as the option to discover other users and celebrities.
4. The app has features like face filter, video editing, timer and the ability to record in slow, normal, fast, lapse or epic modes. Thus, if a child aspires to be a movie maker or a video maker in future this app will help him or her to get extra credentials in future.

Cons:

1. Even private accounts have followers and allow comments in Musical ly. Musical.ly suggests positive-only comments, but we all know trolls can pop up anywhere.
2. Musical.ly is a social media platform, and this is the least favorite aspect of the app. Kids are way too inexperienced and receptive to be in sharing anything personal things online. Parents shall always consider setting their children to account for private.
3. If the profile is open, strangers can leave comments on random videos like you would do on a Facebook or Instagram post. People can also be contacted privately through the profiles if they are left open.

Therefore don’t be fooled by hearing, “ But everyone is using it!”

1. Some of the songs and clips and audio pieces have inappropriate content.Parents shall make a rule that their children may not choose these types of songs.
2. Parents shall make sure that the account is private.
3. Parents shall make sure that the location service is off for the account.
4. Parents shall make sure that their children understand that their worth cannot be dictated by the number of likes or followers they have.
5. Parents shall make sure that their children are following a few decent accounts so that they see what awesome, cool, creative videos look like.