4kiz, Inc. has recently released English, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Korean versions of “4kiz,” a social networking application for children under 13, and has begun global distribution in six languages in addition to Japanese.
All major social networking services (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, etc.) are restricted to those 13 years of age or older under their terms of use. But with many children under the age of 13 possessing smartphones and tablets in recent years, an increasing number of elementary school students are using existing social networking services in violation of their terms of use, exposing them to unsafe situations.
To solve this issue, “4kiz” was developed as a safe and secure social networking application for children under 13 that allows children to post and share short videos and images of their drawings, artworks, insect and plant observations, cartoons, cooking, programming, and other works, as well as their daily lives.
The Japanese version was first released in the summer of 2022, and has been used by more than 10,000 children, who have posted a wide variety of contents and interacted with one another. It has been reported on television, newspapers, and online media, and has attracted attention as a safe social networking service specialized for children. Based on the success of the Japanese version, 4kiz have now started global distribution in six languages (English, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Korean).
■ 4kiz has the following main features and functions.
【Free for children ages 4-12 from their smartphones and tablets】
• The 4kiz application can be installed for free on smartphones and tablets from the “App Store” on Apple devices or “Google Play” on Android devices.
• Children between the ages of 4 and 12 can register for use upon parental approval.
【Nurture children’s creativity by posting short videos and images of their creations.】
• Short videos or images of 5 to 60 seconds are allowed for submission. Media can be edited within the 4kiz application by taking new pictures, loading existing files, and placing text and stickers on the video or image.
• This gives children an opportunity to enhance expression, communication, and creativity by posting short videos of creative works such as drawings, insect and plant observations, picture diaries, songs, cartoons, performances, programming, pets, discoveries, and scenes from daily life.
【Expand children’s curiosity and connect over what they love.】
• Follow, comment, hashtag, and trend functions, as well as a recommendation function that displays recommended posts and friends, can help foster a healthy community where children can connect with one another and stimulate their curiosity about what they like.
• The community function allows users to create groups based on their favorite themes and chat with each other in real time.
【Stimulate communication among family members】
• Not only parents, but also grandparents and relatives can be invited as family users to view and comment on the children’s posts.
• The system also has a separate comment section for children of the same age group and a family comment section that only family members can see, allowing children to comment without feeling shy, thus helping to stimulate family communication.
【Implemented safe and secure design】
• Children’s privacy is protected by using a nickname as a username, and instead of the child’s portrait, each user can create their own avatar from illustration designed by a picture book artist.
• Words that encourage bullying, slander, and crimes are set to be detected so that they cannot be written, thus preventing cyberbullying, and enhancing safety.
• Inappropriate posts are automatically detected by AI to prevent inappropriate content from being displayed to children.
• Parental control functions allow parental accounts to regulate comments, likes, and follows, decide whether parental confirmation is required before posts are made public, and set usage hours for their children.
■ 4kiz users’ comments and reviews
“My daughter has always watched YouTube and TikTok on her own, so I was worried about a lot of things, but now that we have this app, she jumped right in and started posting! She posts her illustrations because she loves to draw, and she enjoys getting advice in the comments!”
“My elementary school daughter, who has always loved drawing, is really into it. When she posts illustrations, she has drawn on the drawing app, she is happy to receive comments and likes from other children and to exchange requests with them. As a parent, I feel safe letting her use this app because there are no exchanges of bad words or slander like on other social networking services.”
“My child was interested in social media, but I was worried about letting my child use a social networking service that adults use, so I used this one. The text and screen design are cute. My child was immediately interested in posting and seems to enjoy using it.”
■ Android version (Google Play) and the iOS version (App Store) can be installed free of charge from the following URLs.
◉ Android version (Google Play)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.forkiz.app
◉ iOS version (App Store)
https://apps.apple.com/app/id1620273667
■ The mission of 4kiz, Inc.
4kiz, Inc.’s mission is to “create connections around the world that will help children realize their unlimited potential.” Through this social networking application, 4kiz aims to develop children’s curiosity by connecting them with their favorite things, and to foster their creativity by sharing their creations with one another.
It is a new online learning platform for children and a new SNS (Social Networking Service) = “Social Networking School.” By implementing a design that allows parents and children to work together and enhances safety, 4kiz will create a safe community and provide opportunities for children to output for healthy communication and connection online.
