Musical.ly Parent App Guide
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Musical.ly Parent App Guide
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Hello, I'm Josh, the founder of SmartSocial.com.
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Note: The Musical.ly app was shut down in August 2018. All 100M Musical.ly users are being transferred to the Tik Tok App. However, we leave this app guide here to teach parents/educators what it does.
Parent & educator training video
What was the Musical.ly app?
Musical.ly is a popular app with teens and tweens that lets users make lip-syncing videos to their favorite songs.
Musical.ly is a popular app with teens and tweens that lets users make lip-syncing videos to their favorite songs.
- This app allowed students to select from millions of songs or use music from their own device
- Users created lip sync videos to your favorite songs
- The app allowed users to add video effects: filter, fast motion, slow motion, time lapse, reverse, and other "time machine" effects
- Users of Musical.ly were called “musers”
- Users got likes from other “musers” and could see how their music videos ranked on the leaderboard
- The "Duet" feature created a video that featured your own video integrated with another “muser's” submission
What does Musical.ly marketing say?
- Use hot music to make fascinating videos
- Discover trends from around the world
- Easily create fun and amazing videos to impress your friends
- Anyone can be an awesome singer
What is popular on Musical.ly?
What do parents say?
Warning....this app contains Adult Video Content!
"Warning....this app contains Adult Video Content! After watching a lot of other videos that were on there by others, the majority of them were inappropriate and had suggestive language and dancing."
"Caution! Very fun but not for Tweens! The BIG problem is that a lot of the available music and sound bites contain all the very adult language and innuendos you hear on the radio. So when left to her own devices, I found my 10 year old lip syncing to suggestive lyrics she didn't even understand. And dancing and gesturing the way a rock diva does- not the way I want her spending her free time."
Why should parents care?
There is mature language and sexual content on the app.
Even though this app is relatively new and hasn’t received a lot of media attention, it is very popular with teens. There is mature language and sexual content in the songs that are popular on the app, and there is no way to filter the content. Videos can contain mature situations.
What can parents do?
- Remind your teen to keep each video Light, Bright and Polite
- And, inappropriate online activity (even under a fake username) can harm their reputation
- Start an open and honest dialog with your teen
- Challenge your teens to find a way to highlight their knowledge and teach others
- Encourage your students to participate in positive challenges (eg: #TeacherGoals)
Watch our original Musical.ly Parent Guide from 2016 as a video:
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This is great info, thanks for giving me some ideas on how to start a dialogue with my teen!
Sharon M.
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Josh's presentation about social media was unbelievably fantastic. Our students learned so much about what kids should and shouldn't be doing. The fact that it is such a thoughtful process made it all worthwhile.
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This webinar is a very helpful eye-opener on the apps that are popular with my students.
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