Smart Social Podcast: Keeping students safe so they can Shine Online
GroupMe App Guide for Parents and Educators
Episode Summary
GroupMe is a messaging app, owned by Microsoft, that’s extremely popular with students. SmartSocial.com Founder Josh Ochs explains how the app works and how some students have gotten into trouble using it. Learn more: https://smartsocial.com/groupme-parent-app-guide/
Episode Notes
GroupMe is a messaging app owned by Microsoft. Users can send group or private messages from their computer or phone using WiFi. This app is extremely popular among students. Users can chat with friends (or strangers) for free, share emojis and GIFs, and set up calendar events. Smart Social wants to caution parents that students can send and receive messages on GroupMe without limits and there is no way for users to delete past posts.
Why should parents care?
- Some students favor the GroupMe app because the content of a message isn’t displayed when notifications pop up on their device. This feature makes it easy for students to hide negative behavior or content from their parents
- Parents have reported instances of kids using the app solely to bully others
- There is no way for users to delete old messages, bringing concerns over a user’s ability to control content
- Since activity from the GroupMe app doesn’t show up on their parents’ phone bill (like text messages), students could use the app to hide their messaging activity
- GIFs available on GroupMe can showcase mature or inappropriate content
- The app has built-in features that allow users to search the web directly from the app. There is no way to moderate or filter that content
- Users can enable geo-location, which encourages them to chat with strangers nearby. This feature can be very dangerous since predators can use it to target victims in their area
- GroupMe’s privacy policy promises to never share users’ phone numbers or email addresses with other group members, but parents should be aware that within 10 minutes of our team verifying their phone number with GroupMe, we started to receive spam phone calls
What can parents do?
- Even though some apps allow students to send unlimited messages, take time to discuss and set limits on how much your teen can use texting/messaging apps to connect with their friends
- Remind your teen of the importance of keeping their messages Light, Bright and Polite, because any message they send online, on social media, or through text messaging can be shared by someone else. Even if the message was intended to remain private
- Talk with your students about the dangers of:
- chatting with strangers online
- sharing personal information on apps, like GroupMe
- sharing your location on a messaging app
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