TikTok Creator Convos: Supporting Youth and Families on TikTok

In the second installment of its TikTok Creator Convo webinar series, TikTok Philippines brings to light relevant issues among teens, and the importance of guidance and parental control in dealing with these concerns. Held on November 26, 2020, the session also served as the official launch event for TikTok’s new Family Pairing feature, which is designed to keep teens and families safe while on the app.

During the virtual session, a panel of creators made up of both parents and teens engaged in a Teen Says, Parent Says open discussion about digital safety, and building trust and stronger relationships through communication. The conversation also touched on other timely issues among teens and parents, such as mental health, expressing one’s passion online, and the value of having parental controls in place.

Nanay Cess, a mom influencer and work at home mom who uses TikTok as an engaging platform to share parenting advice, was part of the panel together with her teenage sister, Merill Zamora. The third panelist in the discussion was Mommy Avvy. Known on TikTok as @mommyconfessionalsph, she shares parenting-related content, such as how to teach kids to be courteous, and tips for online homeschooling. Joining the conversation as moderator was Alexis Soon, TikTok Philippines’ Community Operations Manager for Health and Lifestyle. Viewers learned a lot from all the speakers, who also talked a little about how TikTok’s Family Pairing feature has been a great help in making the app a safe online space for teens, giving parents peace of mind.

The webinar ended with a more in-depth rundown of the new Family Pairing features on the app and how they work, shared by Cat Avelino, TikTok Philippines’ Head of Communications. This new update provides parents with new ways to monitor and regulate their teens’ TikTok activity, including the content that they can view and share. New features include:

Search: This allows parents to directly control whether a teen can search for content, users, hashtags, or sounds on the app.

Comments: Parents may decide who can leave comments on a teen’s videos – Either all users, friends only, or no one.

Discoverability: This lets you regulate whether your teen’s account is private or public. With a private account, your teen can choose who can see their content. When the account is set to public, anyone can search for your teen’s profile, and view their content.

Liked videos: Here, you decide who can view the videos your teen liked.

Other controls that parents can manage through the Family Pairing feature are restricted duets, setting of screen time limits, and reporting of bad behavior seen on the app. To use Family Pairing, parents need to have their own TikTok accounts, which they should link to their kids’ accounts by following these simple steps:

Go to Settings.

Tap on Family Pairing, and select Parent. The screen will display a QR code.

Follow the same steps on your teen’s TikTok account, and select Teen.

Scan the QR code from the Parent’s account using the Teen’s account to link.

Once accounts are linked, parents will be able to control their kids’ settings using their own devices.

TikTok strives to continue being a safe, positive a