Good morning world! I have been away for a longer time than I had anticipated but various projects kept me from having the proper time to sit down and write out blog entries! Hopefully that trend ends now as I prepare to return to life on the road!

Over the past few months, live-streaming apps and websites have gained a large following. Today’s entry will take a look at the most recent addition to this fad: Periscope.

Officially launched in March of 2015 the Twitter-owned app gain instant popularity with both the general public and many celebrities.

The app allows users to live-stream from their phones or computers (equipped with a web cam) to the world around them. I know this service has been popular with a number of my friends who enjoy live-streaming parades and fireworks from Disney World to friends around the world that aren’t able to be there in person.

During my brief time playing with the app this afternoon I witnessed the following:

A young man talking about a new pair of shoes he purchased.
An Irishman conducting a Q&A about drinking.
Someone getting a haircut.
A teenager driving. Yep. Driving. While looking at his phone and responding to comments.
A grown man with his two children in the car (not seat belted) driving and responding to comments
Two teen girls conducting a Q&A session and receiving inappropriate questions.

Privacy
To join the app, users much also be a member of Twitter and the two accounts will be linked. Upon signing up you are able to create a username different from your twitter account, if desired. As always, I recommend staying away from usernames that reveal a lot of personal information including full names, locations, age, etc.

When it comes to broadcasts, the default setting is Public but users do have the ability to change over to private and, from there, select which of their followers are able to view that particular broadcast. When left public, the broadcast is shot out to the world. As far as I can tell (with Android at least) there is no way to limit narrow down viewable broadcasts to those around you.

Sexting/Content

While the app’s community guidelines prohibit content of a sexual nature, it doesn’t stop users from broadcasting such things. While surfing around the app I did come across some rather adult situations which I reported but there seemed to be no response from the app as the broadcast continued and now seems to be archived to the user’s account. Broadcasts are able to be saved for up to 24 hours on the user’s accounts for those that aren’t able to see it live.

Common sense is the name of the game but in a world where becoming social media famous seems to be on everyone’s mind, that idea seems to go out the window. While briefly viewing a broadcast being conducted by two 16-year old girls they were being bombarded with questions and comments like, “what is your bra size?”, “Are you virgins?”, “What’s the furthest you’ve gone with a guy?”, “You two should make out!”

Thankfully in this case those questions and comments were ignored but I fear for those who decide to get provocative for the sake of gaining more likes and followers.

Once it’s out there, there is a chance of it resurfacing. Periscope is not safe from apps and tricks that allow viewers to record or screenshot what they are watching and sharing it elsewhere with others. A quick google search told me all I need to know about saving broadcasts both on my phone and computer!

Bullying

Again, after just a few moments of joining someone’s broadcast I was witness to some hard words and speech being thrown around by other users. One young man, 14, was conducting an “I’m bored” Q&A which was being viewed by about 100+ people. One user in particular seemed relentless about asking whether or not the broadcaster was gay. When the questions was initially ignored, the viewer became agitated and resorted to some more colorful language. The broadcaster responded that he was straight and had a girlfriend. The user, not satisfied with this answer proclaimed “Well you seem like a fa**ot!”

While the app does allow for users to block and report one another, the wording in their terms of service makes me nervous about what Twitter (Periscope’s parent comany) does with these reports. As stated in their Terms, the have the right to monitor and investigate users but are under no obligation to do so. I feel like this invites nothing but trouble and should certainly be something parents keep and eye on if they allow their kids to use this service.

Should Parents Be Concerned About Periscope?

Of all of the live-streaming apps/websites that are available right now, Periscope seems to be the safest with the ability to at least limit those who are viewing what your are broadcasting.

That being said, I would place Periscope in the same boat as Omegle and Fling. I spent the better part of my time on the app terrified that I was going to stumble on something that would get me into trouble. My every gut instinct with apps like this is to avoid at all costs.

The app itself is rated Teen within the Google Play store meaning that it is following the COPPA standard for social networking sites which means that users must be at least 13 years or older to be a part of the site. This obviously doesn’t stop kids from lying to get onto the site. I encourage parents to set up safeguards to prevent younger kids from downloading the app to their device.

As always, take the time to talk to your kids about apps like this and remind them that sometimes something they think is harmless fun can cause them a world of trouble.

As always if you have questions about this or other apps please do not hesitate to send an e-mail to info@joshgunderson.com. The “What Parents Should Know” blog series will be posted weekly throughout the year as time in our schedule allows.

Josh Gunderson is an award-winning Bullying Prevention and Social Media Specialist. Josh has appeared on MTV, Comedy and National Geographic. For more information about Josh and his educational programs please visit www.HaveYouMetJosh.com

You can purchase Josh’s book “Cyberbullying: Perpetrators, Bystanders & Victims” on Amazon! Available in paperback or for Kindle.