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Social media cheat sheet

This cheat sheet can help you keep track of all the different social media apps, how they might impact your child's mental health, and what privacy and safety features are built in.

BeReal

BeReal logo

Overview

BeReal is a photo sharing app that allows you to share photos only once a day. It is designed to show your life without filters in authentic moments.

Teen female vs. male usage

Data unavailable

Privacy and safety features

  • Customizable privacy settings

Things to consider

  • By providing daily snapshots into their actual lives, young people could make it easier for others to figure out their routines and behaviors

Minimum age

13

Discord

Discord logo

Overview

Discord is a voice, video, and text chat app organized by topic channels that allows users to talk and hang out with communities and friends.

Teen female vs. male usage

18% female

29% male

Privacy and safety features

  • Safe direct messaging can automatically scan and delete direct messages containing explicit content

Things to consider

  • Discord is used by predators to contact youth
  • Has become increasingly used for cyberbullying
  • Has been used for criminal activity and spreading troublesome ideologies and explicit content

Minimum age

13

Facebook

Facebook logo

Overview

Facebook allows users to stay connected to others through messages, posts, and videos. Users can discover what’s going on in the world, join groups, and share thoughts and life updates.

Teen female vs. male usage

40% female

40% male

Privacy and safety features

  • Privacy, timeline, and tagging settings can all be changed to help protect user's accounts and safety

Things to consider

  • While Facebook may not be the primary form of social media used by youth anymore, it can be used for cyberbullying and catfishing

Minimum age

13

Instagram

Instagram logo

Overview

Instagram is a platform where you can post and view photos and videos, allowing users to connect with friends, family, brands, celebrities, and influencers.

Teen female vs. male usage

78% female

62% male

Privacy and safety features

  • Supervision option lets parents link their social media accounts to their child's account to supervise activity

Things to consider

  • Instagram influencers and celebrities are often followed and idolized by youth and teens
  • Posts can perpetuate the image of living "perfect lives"
  • "Instagram vs. reality" is an important topic to address with young people

Minimum age

13

Pinterest

Pinterest logo

Overview

Pinterest is a social site where you can collect and share images to “boards,” often allowing for discovery of ideas.

Teen female vs. male usage

30% female

8% male

Privacy and safety features

  • Customizable privacy settings

Things to consider

  • Possibility of seeing inappropriate, offensive, or troublesome images (i.e., pictures glorifying eating disorders) on public boards

Minimum age

13

Reddit

Reddit logo

Overview

Pinterest is a social site where you can collect and share images to “boards,” often allowing for discovery of ideas.

Teen female vs. male usage

7% female

14% male

Privacy and safety features

  • Profile settings can be altered to keep minors more anonymous
  • Privacy settings can be customized
  • Content preferences can disable adult content from being shown

Things to consider

  • Reddit threads are often not based on fact, but on opinion
  • Threads can be filled with gossip, theories, controversial topics, and personal experiences
  • Reddit communities provide space for people to share, but may be unsafe, inappropriate, or triggering for youth to read
  • Personal details of users have been revealed, resulting in harassment

Minimum age

13

Snapchat

Snapchat logo

Overview

Snapchat allows users to send “snaps” (photos or videos) which will disappear after being viewed.

Teen female vs. male usage

66% female

62% male

Privacy and safety features

  • Change contact settings
  • Disable "show me in quick add" setting
  • Enable "ghost mode" to prevent location sharing

Things to consider

  • Snaps disappear after they are viewed, which can make sending hurtful or inappropriate messages easy to get away with
  • Photos or messages can be screenshotted or saved in the chat, but the sender will be notified

Minimum age

13

Threads

Threads logo

Overview

Threads is a new app built by Instagram. Users can share primarily text-based updates and start public conversations. Posts appear on your profile and in the feeds of those who follow you or seem to share common interests, as determined by the platform’s algorithm. These can include text, links, photos, or videos.

Teen female vs. male usage

Data not yet available

Privacy and safety features

  • Everyone who is under 16 (or under 18 in certain countries) will be defaulted into a private profile when they join Threads
  • If you have a private profile, you can approve users on Threads who want to follow you and interact with your content, similar to the experience on Instagram
  • Supervision is a set of tools and insights that parents and guardians can use to help support their teens (ages 13-17) on Threads
  • If you have supervision set up in the Family Center for Instagram, it'll automatically be set up for Threads, and your Instagram supervision settings will apply to Threads. If you haven't set up supervision, you'll need to set it up on Instagram

Things to consider

  • Threads provides a more casual and conversational platform for user engagement and sharing
  • Posts may appear in user's feeds by accounts they don't necessarily follow but that are similar to other content they have engaged in
  • All conversations within Threads are public unless you have your account set to private

Minimum age

13

TikTok

TikTok logo

Overview

TikTok is used to share and view 1-10 minute long videos including personal thoughts, tutorials, dances, and more.

Teen female vs. male usage

70% female

66% male

Privacy and safety features

  • TikTok digital well-being
  • Restricted mode
  • Family pairing

Things to consider

  • TikTok "challenges" can become unsafe or inappropriate for youth and teens
  • While content is reviewed, what some consider appropriate may not be to others
  • Comment sections are often flooded with negative or harmful comments, but users can change video settings to restrict comments on their video

Minimum age

13

WhatsApp

WhatsApp logo

Overview

What’sApp is a messenger app used to send and receive texts, images, audio, or video via the internet instead of cell phone service.

Teen female vs. male usage

Data unavailable

Privacy and safety features

  • Customizable privacy settings

Things to consider

  • Messages from strangers may contain viruses or be scams
  • Can be hard to monitor if "disappearing messages" feature is enabled
  • Has been used for cyberbullying
  • There is no filter for adult content

Minimum age

13 - 16 depending on country

X

X logo

Overview

X (formerly Twitter) is a social media platform designed to connect people and allow them to share their thoughts through short posts called tweets.

Teen female vs. male usage

20% female

23% male

Privacy and safety features

  • Privacy settings can adjust who can tag, follow, and message users
  • Safety Mode will automatically block abusive language and spam accounts

Things to consider

  • X is automatically public, which makes it easier to interact with strangers
  • X is permanent, and even if accounts are changed to private, tweets sent from a public account remain public
  • Often used as a way to spread news — with many tragedies occurring daily, it's important to discuss the impact of news and how to cope

Minimum age

13

YouTube

YouTube logo

Overview

YouTube is a video sharing platform where users can watch, like, share, comment, and upload their own videos.

Teen female vs. male usage

80% female

86% male

Privacy and safety features

  • YouTube supervised Google account
  • YouTube Kids app
  • YouTube Family Guide

Things to consider

  • Without parental controls, youth can look up virtually anything, including explicit content

Minimum age

Must be 13 to have own account, but children of all ages may use if enabled by a parent or guardian