Snapchat introduced on Wednesday that it’s releasing new assets for educators to assist them create protected environments of their faculties by higher understanding how their college students use the app. The corporate debuted a brand new web site devoted to serving to educators familiarize themselves with the app, together with a useful resource doc to assist them defend college students.
The announcement comes as lawmakers have grilled Snapchat, and different social networks, for not doing sufficient to guard kids and youths on their platforms. It additionally comes as psychological well being consultants have warned that social media could pose a “profound risk” to teen psychological well being.
Snapchat says greater than 20 million teenagers within the U.S. use its app, and a 2023 Pew examine discovered that Snapchat is the third-most-used app amongst teenagers. Whereas Snapchat has launched a handful of options over the previous few years to guard teenagers on its app, Wednesday’s announcement is devoted to bringing these efforts into the classroom.
The web site, which is known as the “Educator’s Guide to Snapchat,” consists of details about how the app works, together with an summary of Snapchat’s security instruments. The web site consists of downloadable assets that educators can share with mother and father or counselors to assist college students cope with points they could face on-line, reminiscent of bullying or sextortion.
To assist educators assist the well-being of their college students, Snapchat has launched a useful resource doc that focuses on offering educators with the information they want to take action. The doc outlines recommendations on selling protected practices on-line, creating faculty insurance policies for social media utilization, combatting sextortion and extra.
As well as, Snapchat is launching a brand new suggestions kind for educators to share how Snapchat is getting used of their faculties and to provide suggestions on to the social community.
