Last week, Facebook came up with a new standalone video-snippet App ‘Lifestage’ for teenagers yet again targeting the Snapchat directly. This time though the app is only available for teenagers and as of now it’s only available on iOS platform. Though anyone can download and install the app but to be able to see others profiles will be only available for people who are less than 22 years of age. Basically, the app allows teenagers to make video-snippets on various topics such as likes, hobbies, dance styles and other things related to their character.
The age restriction implies that no one can monitor your activities on this app, not even your parents. The app which is developed by Michael Sayman who is just 19 years of age and is the youngest product manager at Facebook. Talking about Facebook, there is no link of the social web platform to this app.
In order to log in, you are required to enter in your mobile number and Email ID for verification. Also, teenagers using the app in the US will only be able to view others profile if the app has at least 20 sign ups from their school. Once you upload something on the app, your connections from school will be automatically notified about the same. “Once your school is unlocked, you can access the profiles of others in your school community (and all over!) So you can get to know people better in your school and nearby schools,” the description at the App Store read.
One loophole as of now in this next gen social network is the non-ability to identify as to a person really belongs to the age category or a particular school. Also, Lifestage is directly competing with apps like Snapchat which is currently the top video snippet sharing app. In Lifestage, users can share anything and it will be available to other Lifestage users instantly. Also, lack of any kind of interference and monitoring might well lead this to another platform for bullying, abuse and other violations which were earlier seen on Snapchat. Also given the mind set of today’s teenagers this app can further lead to a disastrous outcome. Well, the youngest product manager of Facebook might have created a perfect app for Facebook and teenager but with no future modification on privacy and monitoring, it can really lead to something unpleasant just as we saw on various other social networking platforms. Apart from that, Lifestage is a good platform to showcase your skills and talents.
Earlier this month, Facebook also introduced a new Snapchat like feature to its famous photo-sharing app ‘Instagram’. The ‘Stories’ feature allows users on Instagram to view a small video snippet of the users they follow. Well, it’s too soon to review the success of this addition but it has been receiving a positive response till now.