Meeko

Mission

Meeko strives to make the internet a safer and healthier place for children and teens by creating an online environment that is conducive to learning, rather than that of restriction and fear.

Unique Selling Proposition

Meeko is the only extension for parental monitoring that guides and teaches children while interacting with the internet to encourage healthy online behaviors.

Problems for Children (11–17)

Age of Children with Phones

The average age that children get a phone is 12 years old. Half of children aged 10–12 use social media.

^{Stanford University, 2022} ^{Liberty University, 2022}

Information Privacy

Only 46% of minors know how to change their privacy settings.

^{Qustodio, 2021}

Cyber-bullying

1 in 6 teenagers have experienced at least 1 of 6 different forms of abusive behavior online:

Namecalling (42%)
False rumors (32%)
Unsolicited explicit images (25%)
Being tracked (21%)
Threats (16%)
Having personal photos leaked (7%)

^{Pew Research Center, 2018}

Online Predators

40% of kids in grades 4–8 reported they connected or chatted online with a stranger. Of those 40 percent:

53% revealed their phone number to a stranger
21% spoke by phone with a stranger

15% tried to meet with a stranger
11% met a stranger in their own home, the stranger’s home, a park, mall or restaurant
30% texted a stranger from their phone
6% revealed their home address to a stranger

^{The Center for Cyber Safety and Education, 2019}

Problems for Parents and Guardians

Efficacy of Current Systems

9 in 10 teens say their parents have talked to them about online safety. However, nearly half (49%) of teens claim their parents do nothing to monitor their devices.

^{Cox Communications, 2019}

Parental Controls

39% of parents report using parental controls for blocking, filtering or monitoring their teen’s online activities.

^{Enough.org, 2023}

Access to Information

Just 28% of parents have installed software on computers to prohibit certain website visitation; only 17% have such software on mobile devices, and just 15% on gaming consoles.

^{Cox Communications, 2019}

Time Kids Spend on Devices

On average, teens spend 5 hours and 38 minutes online every day.

^{The Futures Company, 2020}

Competitive Analysis

User Personas

Bio
Jackie is a busy mom of 3 whose oldest is just going into 6th grade. She’s worried to expose her children to all the negative aspects of social media and she simply doesn’t have time to sit down and monitor every minute that her kids are on their devices.

Goals

To teach her children discipline when learning social media
To be open with her children about pros and cons of social media
To be present in her children’s lives

Frustrations

Though she splits time with her husband, she feels she doesn’t have time to teach digital literacy to the point where she would feel comfortable letting her kids participate
She feels out of the loop when it comes to new technolgy trends, despite being active on Facebook

Motivations Personality

Bio
Emily is a high achieving 8th grader who enjoys spending time with her friends. She feels especially left out when her friends spend their time together talking about trends and how they’re able to stay connected outside of school through social media.

Goals

Convice her parents that she is ready to be on social media
Keeping up with her friends and the trends on social media

Frustrations

When her mom is constantly looking over her shoulder to make sure she’s getting her homework done and not playing games on her school computer.
When she gets caught for playing games instead of doing her homework
Being one of the only kids without social media in her grade

Motivations Personality

Interviews

We knew that this problem was widely faced, so in order to narrow it down and figure out ways that were being used to solve this problem, we interviewed 2 teachers in the public school system: the first, a second year teacher of high school students; the second, a 12th year teacher of high school students.

Restriction

Schools are starting to implement rules for students to keep their phones off and in their backpack until the school day is over.

Usage

Students have a need for mindless distractions and social media apps make it easier and with algorithms to provide a constant stream of content.

Passivity

Students have learned (especially during the pandemic) that there aren’t a whole lot of serious/immediate consequences for cyberbullying.

Defining the Tagline

Safe:

Keeping passwords and personal information from people other than parents and guardians
Filtering who follows you
Maintaining strong passwords
Backing up important data

Kind:

Treating people with kindness
Not partaking in bullying
Celebrating differences
Spreading positivity

Aware:

Protecting yourself against malware and viruses
Recognizing potential scams
Recognizing false information
Identifying fake accounts

Meeko:

Spreading internet safety education resources
Asking questions and creating conversations about internet safety
Creating a healthy environment for kids to express themselves and feel included

Defining “Digital Literacy”

Handling different devices and operating systems
Navigating through various online platforms
Understanding how the digital world works
Using technology creatively and innovatively to solve problems
Identifying information within different types of media
Evaluating digital resources critically
Recognizing and handling digital threats
Using digital tools in a safe and ethical way
Creating and sharing information effectively

the ability to use computer and digital technologies effectively

—Adina Ailoaiei, PrivacyHub, Feb 2023

Feature Prioritization

Must have:

Ethos of hints and suggestion
Fully customizable parental controls
Fully customizable parental filtering
Streamlined UI for ease of use
Internet safety education for kids
Age-appropriate language

Could have:

Built in games to foster the learning environment for kids
Chat support system for questions
Alerts about risky sites
Voice controlled virtual assistant
Reminders to be independent from devices (play outside, read a book, do a craft, etc.)

Should have:

Character-based approach to engage kids
Language selection
Location tracking
Profile dashboard
Ability to create multiple profiles per account
A push notification system for alerts
Daily summaries for parents to review

Won’t have:

Overly restrictive approach
Won’t require a specific phone or hardware
Chat service between parent and child

Brand System

Campaign

In order to spread awareness about this software, Meeko campaigns in large public areas such as malls, airports, and city parks.

This campaign presents an interactive game to get kids excited about having Meeko and introduce them to some internet safety tips.

Storyboard

The story board for the game was mocked up in Spline—a 3-D modeling resource—using 5 frames to make up the journey through the maze.

With more time and resources, the game will be fully interactive and have audio elements to be more engaging and understandable for the young age group.

App

Onboarding

In order to help kids get acquainted with the app, Meeko briefly explains what to expect using age-appropriate terminology. The onboarding only takes 30–60 seconds in order to keep the child’s attention and get them excited about exploring the app for themselves.

In the App

The app consists of a customizable environment, daily quests, a past tips dashboard, and some prospective games where the child can earn more rewards for customizing Meeko’s environment.

Extension

Visualized on YouTube Kids

Visualized on Instagram

Website

What I learned

The most important aspect of this project was getting the most reliable research to understand the initial problem. We went back and forth about what to include in the final product in order to appeal to the child persona who wants all the freedom in the world and the parent or guardian persona who wants as much restriction as possible. It took a lot of group communication and participation to come up with what we did, and fortunately, we were all so passionate about creating a solution that it worked out to be something we’re all really proud of.

With more time and resources, the biggest thing to include would be creating audio for Meeko—a character voice, a chat system, and audio notifications. Another important thing would be to create real games for each lesson (safe, kind, aware, Meeko) and possibly team up with Google’s Be Internet Awesome to create an engaging experience. Lastly, our dream is obviously to have this software realized and out in the world helping kids and parents tackle the daunting task of learning and teaching internet literacy.