Introducing Family Center on Snapchat
August 9, 2022
At Snap, we believe that our products should reflect real-life human behaviors, and how people act and relate to each other in their everyday lives. We’ve made it a point to build things differently from the beginning, with a focus on helping Snapchatters communicate with their close friends in an environment that prioritizes their safety, privacy, and wellbeing.
That’s why Snapchat opens directly to a Camera, not a feed of endless content, and is focused on connecting people who are already friends in real life. We have always wanted Snapchatters to be able to genuinely express themselves and have fun with their friends in the same way they would if they were hanging out in person—without the pressure to grow a following, gain views, or earn likes.
Creating a safe and positive experience for them is critical to this mission. While we want our platform to be safe for all members of our community, we have extra protections in place for teenagers. For example, on Snapchat:
By default, teens have to be mutual friends before they can start communicating with each other.
Friend lists are private, and we don’t allow teens to have public profiles.
And we have protections in place to make it harder for strangers to find teens. For example, teens only show up as a "suggested friend" or in search results in limited instances, like if they have mutual friends in common.
Today, Snapchat is a central communications tool for young people, and as our community continues to grow, we know parents and caregivers want additional ways to help keep their teens safe.
That’s why we’re introducing a new in-app tool called Family Center, which will help parents get more insight into who their teens are friends with on Snapchat, and who they have been communicating with, without revealing any of the substance of those conversations.
