In the middle of the debate about setting age limits on social media usage, Snapchat is testing a new feature. The company is testing a new sharing option that will enable teens aged 16 and 17 to share their posts with a broader audience in the app. However, it will not be an equivalent to the public posting.
The company already has some measures in place to limit the platform exposure for younger audiences. Public posting restrictions in the app are one of them.
This time, Snapchat is trying another way to give younger users to share their content in a more privacy-focused approach.
Here is what the company thinks about it.
“Informed by feedback from our community, older teens will be able to post content to a new publicly viewable content page within their profile built with thoughtful protections in place. These capabilities will be rolling out slowly to our community.”
In general, young users will have new filtering options to post for a broader audience than posting publicly.
“Now Snapchatters who are 16+ and want to share their creativity can post a public Story or share a video to Spotlight with attribution back to their publicly viewable content page within their profile that has extra safeguards in place. There, they can save their Stories and Spotlights to showcase their favorite posts.”
Snapchat says that content will be shared with a limited audience of mutual and expanded connections. Through this, they will also be limiting how teens engage with non-connections.
They further iterate that the new ability will have additional controls over each piece of content. It will enable the user to limit where each of their snaps are being shared and who can view them.
“On Snapchat, it is always more than a one-time choice to simply be public or be private.”
This will be a good option for older teens as they are looking to share more content on the platform.
However, the company needs to tread carefully as the state of New Mexico filed a lawsuit that alleges that Snapchat has repeatedly failed to protect children from sextortion, sexual exploitation, and harm in the app.
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