Published , by Donovan Erskine
Published , by Donovan Erskine
Instagram has been one of the most popular social media apps over the past decade. Centered around photo and video content, Instagram was acquired by Facebook back in 2012, when the app was really taking off. Since then, we’ve seen Facebook make many changes to the social media app over the years, and it looks like another major one may be on the way. New rumors state that Facebook is developing a new version of Instagram design specifically for kids.
This comes from an exclusive report shared by BuzzFeed News. BuzzFeed states that it’s obtained a post shared within the company that confirms its plans to develop a kids-centric Instagram app.
“I’m excited to announce that going forward, we have identified youth work as a priority for Instagram and have added it to our H1 priority list,” said Instagram Vice President of product Vishal Shah in the alleged post. “We will be building a new youth pillar within the Community Product Group to focus on two things: (a) accelerating our integrity and privacy work to ensure the safest possible experience for teens and (b) building a version of Instagram that allows people under the age of 13 to safely use Instagram for the first time.”
If this message was indeed shared internally by the leadership at Instagram, it all but confirms that the company is working on a version of Instagram targeted at kids. Of course, this news will likely raise several concerns. There’s already debates surrounding childrens’ use of social media apps. Add on top of that the fact that parent company Facebook doesn’t have the squeakiest record when it comes to user privacy.
If Facebook indeed plans to launch a version of Instagram made for kids 13 and under, we’ll have to wait for some more concrete details. For future updates, stay right here on Shacknews.