YouTube

When streaming video accessible to the public, YouTube is preferred for youth. This should be done with commenting turned off and any conversation hosted only in a more secure platform.
Other streaming platforms where commenting is not possible or can be turned off are similarly ideal.

Facebook Live

Facebook Live provides one way streaming accessible publicly or in a Facebook group. It is less ideal as many youth avoid Facebook fervently. The public Facebook live is not recommended for youth ministry as the comments must be actively monitored because they’re available to the public. If a youth program has youth in a Facebook group, Facebook live within that group can be effective.

Instagram Live

Instagram Live provides streaming with notification to an account’s followers. Inappropriate comments in the chat cannot be deleted, though comments can be reported and the account can be blocked from seeing the video. This may be an effective way to create a short video, especially one with guests, with the potential for abusive and inappropriate behavior monitored.

However, Instagram has copied Snapchat’s disappearing message function. Even more problematic than Snapchat, this feature cannot be disabled or avoided by not being friends with someone. Encouraging adults to be on instagram with teens runs the risk of either youth sending troubling messages to adults who do not react in time to screenshot the message -- or predatory adults grooming youth through inappropriate messages which the youth are unable to screenshot in time and may hesitate to talk to a safe adult about for fear of not being believed. Covenants should include an agreement not to use such one on one messages and an understanding adults may not see Instagram messages. Adults using instagram should consider not using the messaging function and consider turning off notifications of messages so that they will not see messages sent from youth.

For youth using Instagram, there are some built in parental controls and there are third party apps (such as Bark) which parents can use to filter content on their youth’s Instagram as well. Instagram has instituted policies to mitigate cyber-bullying on their platform (for example by eliminating “likes” counts, and employing filters to detect bullying).

Twitch-TV

Twitch-TV similar to Discord there is content on Twitch-TV we do not want to share with youth and everything that can be done there can be done on other platforms.

Discord

Discord could be considered on par with zoom as far as video meetings go. It gives the ability for the host to mute/unmute, disable video, or kick users as needed. If the server is private and those who join are verified by trusted adults, it should be easy to avoid situations akin to Zoom-bombing. This feature should not be used to facilitate one to one conversations between youth and adults.