For most people, making friends is never easy. It is a challenging and stressful process that many dread. This process is even more difficult for teenagers, which leaves many of them to turn to social networking. Though social networking is great, most social network platforms nowadays only involve sharing videos and photos without intentional and real connections.
Yubo, previously called “Yellow” and nicknamed “dating app for teenagers,” is an app that has stirred a lot of debates on community websites and even social media platforms. It is one app that has changed the game of social networking for young people. With this app, there is no competition for likes. Instead, it encourages real-time conversations with friends who have similar interests from all over the world. Interactions are normally through private chats or live streams.
Currently, Yubo has more than 60 million users worldwide, and there are about 130 000 lives created every day in the world on average. But even with this popularity, is Yubo safe to use? What has been done by Yubo to make its app a safe space? In this article, we answer these questions and more.
What is Yubo?
Yubo is a social networking app designed to “meet new people” and create a sense of community. Here, you can chat, play games, or hang out together with people with similar interests. The mission of the Yubo App is simple- to empower youth to discover and belong. It offers you room to make friends and go live in a fun and safe environment.
The app was launched in 2015 and is available on Android and IOS, and android. Yubo targets young adults aged 13 to 17, and it allows users to create live video streams with up to 10 friends at once. The app has 50 million users worldwide and about 12 million in the USA alone, the largest market using this website.
How does Yubo work?
The Yubo app is free to download. Once you download it, you need to create a profile that must include your name, date of birth which must be at least 13, and gender. Also, you get to choose who you would like to connect with; girls, boys, or both, and upload a profile picture and a maximum of 5 photos.
On seeing someone you would like to connect with on this app, you ought to swipe right, and if not interested, you swipe left. If the person you swipe right to does the same, both you are matched and can chat with one another within the Yubo App.Yubo gives you the option of hiding your location while using the app. However, if you choose to use the location feature, the app uses technology to find other users nearby and suggests them to you.
Is Yubo safe to use?
As discussed above, the main goal of the Yubo app is to allow you as a young person to have real connections. You need to be in a positive and safe environment for this to happen. Yubo is keen to provide this environment through numerous safeguarding features, which are among the best in the industry today.
What are the safety features built into Yubo?
Some of the safety features that you will find at Yubo include:
Information verification
Trust is very critical when it comes to making real connections that result in genuine friendships. With this understanding, Yubo has developed a series of innovations and tools to verify the authenticity and accuracy of the information on a user’s profiles. Yubo verifies your information through the following ways:
- All users upload a picture of their face to access the features on the app. After uploading, face recognition algorithms then verify the authenticity of the image.
- Yubo detects fake photos and phone numbers taken from other websites. Also, it detects users who have multiple accounts with the same phone number or device.
- Yubo identifies the age difference between the age given at registration, the one in the users’ profile, or one that the user exchanges with others.
- The app has an age scan that verifies the user’s identity through the user’s photos.
Protecting live interactions
Yubo highly ensures respectful conversations among its community members through the following ways:
- It Analyzes all visual and written content, checking all live comments and biographies to check for any sentences or words that don’t comply with its standards.
- It Sends pop-up alerts when a user is about to share private information, such as location or phone number.
- It allows all users to report inappropriate information or profiles from all features on the application.
- It Keeps all information sent by the application’s algorithms and makes it available at all times, around the world.
Who are Yubo’s safety partners?
Yubo has partnered with child safety associations and industry specialists to ensure the maximum safety of its users. Its safety board has renowned international experts like:
- Mick Moran, former Deputy Director of Interpol
- Annie Mullins OBE, Yubos expert child safety advisor
- Dr. Richard Graham, a psychiatrist, specialized in social platforms.
- John Shehan, Vice-President of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NcMEC)
- Dr. Richard Graham, a psychiatrist, specialized in social platforms.
- Alex Holmes, Director of the Diana Award – one of the most influential anti-bullying associations
- Anne Collier, founder of NetFamilyNews and member of the Safety Boards of Snap.Inc and Facebook.
- Travis Bright, Product Director of Thorn, one of the leading child safety organizations in the United States
Yubo also partners with charities, leaders, governments, NGOs, and other organizations worldwide to maximize the digital safety of its users. They include:
- The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Kids Helpline in Australia, and the Internet Watch Foundation in the UK.
- The board member of the Technology Coalition, which is made up of Google, Facebook, and Twitter, among other tech leaders.
- Cyberbullying Research Center, Good Thinking, Switchboard, The Diana Award, The Trevor Project, and e-Enfance (Yubo’s campaign partners).
Bottom-line
With all these great safety features on Yubo, it is a safe application you can trust and use to social network with people with similar interests. Additionally, the application has numerous guidelines that you need to agree to before joining the app, increasing its safety even further.
