Bark's executive team, Brandon Hilkert, Brian Bason, and Titania Jordan
Titania JordanIf you have kids, you will most likely run into a time when they ask for their first Smartphone. And when that day arrives, it is best to be prepared to keep an eye on their social media accounts.
Whether teens use technology for school, communication or research, there are many times when they can stumble into serious trouble living in the digital world. They can talk to strangers, share explicit images, deal with cyberbullying, and even express depression or suicidal thoughts online.
It can be challenging for parents and school administrators to identify, keep up, or even understand how pre-teens and teenagers use the Internet and mobile devices. Today, kids have an entire world in their back pockets, and quite often, our young people are using apps for the wrong reasons, even putting their lives at risk.
The startup Bark, founded in 2015, aims to bring a solution to many problems that can arise through social media and Smartphone use.
Snapshot of parental notification
Titania JordanBark is anInternet safety solution for both parents and schools respectively.
Bark alerts parents and school administrators when it detects potential threats and signs of danger, including cyberbullying, internet predators, depression, suicidal thoughts and sexting.Parents can catch issues without being intrusive into their teenagers' private lives. For parents, the app costs $9.00 per month, and children under the age of 13 cannot take part without written consent from guardians.
About Bark
The startup hasraised $4 million dollars to date, has 12 full-time employees and 10 part-time employees, with users in all 50 states across the country. And, about a month ago, they launched Bark for Schools (for free), and close to 1,000 schools have signed up.
I had the chance to speak with Titiana Jordan, CPO (Chief Parent Officer) to learn more about Bark.
In this interview, which has been edited and condensed, Jordan talks about the startup, how the app works, statistical findings, success stories and their future plans.
Titania Jordan
Titania JordanRobyn Shulman: Can you tell me about the team?
Titania Jordan:Brian Bason is our CEO. Hefounded Bark as a solution to help parents work together with their children to navigate the dangers of today's digital world. Bason is an entrepreneur with more 15 years of experience as a technology product lead and executive.Most recently, he was the Chief Technology Officer at Niche, a solution that helps advertisers collaborate with influencers across social media, which was acquired by Twitter.
Shulman: Is he a parent as well?
Jordan: Yes, he is also a parent who knew he could address a critical void in Internet safety solutions by creating one that is easy for parents to use while also affording children their privacy.
Shulman: What is Brandon Hilkert's role?
Jordan: Brandon Hilkert is our CTO. Hefocuses on delivering technology solutions to help protect our children from the dangers of the Internet. As a technology leader with more than 10 years of industry experience, Brandon is also a parent of two young children and wants the internet to be a valuable place for them to learn while also being protected.
Shulman: What is your role?
Jordan: My role as CPO (Chief Parent Officer) spans across product, design, copy, customer acquisition and education, and media relations. I have tremendous experience at the intersection of families and technology, formerly serving as CMO at KidsLink, co-founder/CMO at Privet, and Executive Director of Band of Coders Girls Academy.
Shulman: How did the three of you come together?
Jordan: Brian and Brandon were working on Bark while I was working on my previous startup (an anonymous platform for women). We were in discussions to integrate Bark’s algorithm into my platform to help monitor for trolls, bullying, and inappropriate content, while helping to further train the Bark models. When Brian heard I was moving on, he immediately asked me to join the team and I responded with an emphatic, “Yes!” I could not imagine a more rewarding (building and scaling tech for good) and challenging (navigating digital parenting) role.
Shulman: What was the motivation behind launching the company?
Jordan: Our CEO, Brian Bason, spent his career in the fields of technology and social media. When it came time for his own two children to have devices, he realized there was no good way to keep them safer online, so he left Twitter to solve this very problem.
Shulman:What does Bark do differently than other companies that offer similar services?
Jordan:Our ethos as a company is to help parents raise responsible digital natives, yet alert them when serious issues like cyberbullying, sexting, thoughts of suicide and depression, potential drug use, and online grooming arise.
Shulman: What were some of the early challenges you faced building out Bark, and how did you overcome them?
Jordan: The biggest challenge we faced was creating and training our algorithms.
Shulman: How did you approach this challenge?
Jordan: We spent a significant amount of time and capital investing in data labeling and perfecting our machine-learning platform to analyze conversations, so that it can tell the difference between KMS (text slang for KIll Myself) because you tripped in front of the boy you like, and KMS when you are actually contemplating suicide.
Shulman: How are you getting the word out about Bark?
Jordan: Word of mouth referrals from parents and now school administrators is a key source of awareness. We also utilize the power of social media, video, and content marketing to share our data and our solution.
Bark for Parents
Shulman: How have parents and schools responded to the app?
Jordan: Feedback from parents and schools has been amazing. Parents have been a craving a solution that would allow them to monitor, detect, and alert them to problematic issues without having to be helicopter parents or read every single message.
Shulman: Can you explain exactly how the app works?
Jordan: Bark's technology keeps children safer online utilizing artificial intelligence. Bark monitors a child’s texting, email, 25+ social media platforms (including the ones that tweens and teens actually use), Android, iOS, and Kindle devices for signs of cyberbullying, sexting, thoughts of suicide and depression, potential drug use, and online predators.
Shulman: How does the app identify a potential problem?
An example of Bark's alert to parents or guardians
Titania JordanJordan: Simple keyword analysis is not sufficient to detect the majority of issues amongst tweens and teens. Bark uses advanced machine learning and statistical analysis techniques to recognize potential problems. Once an issue is detected, we alert parents via email and text message.
Shulman: Does the app identify concerning images, audio, and other tools that teens use often?
Jordan: Yes, we also had to train our platform to detect and analyze problematic photos, gifs, emojis, videos, and even audio. Tweens and teens communicate in so many different ways, across so many different accounts and devices.
Shulman:Would you say the app is easy to use and why?
An example alert sent to a parent
Titania JordanJordan:Yes, because our advanced analysis engine enables us to help keep children safe online without requiring parents to spend countless hours reading every social interaction. This approach allows parents to build trust and an open line of communication with their children.
Shulman:How are parents notified when there is a potential issue?
Jordan:When a problematic issue is detected, Bark alerts parents via text and email.
Shulman:Do you provide any guidance or support for parents when they encounter an issue?
Jordan: Yes, after an issue is detected, we provide the best next steps regarding how to address the issue, vetted by our team of advisors who specialize in child health, wellness, psychology, and technology.
Shulman: Do you provide any group or family support that goes along with the program?
Jordan: Yes, we also have a private Facebook Group where parents can ask questions and share concerns regarding parenting in this digital age.
Shulman: How do kids feel about the app?
Jordan: Kids are generally very receptive to Bark, as we do not give parents full, unfettered access to every message.
Shulman: What kind of results have you seen?
Jordan: Over 50% of the children with accounts and devices connected to Bark experience at least one issue each month. 80% of the time, their parents had no idea there was a problem until Bark’s alerts brought it to their attention.
Also, parents and schools can access our 2017 Children & Teen Cyber Fact Sheet.
Of note:
- 66% of teens and 57% of tweens experienced cyberbullying (as a bully, victim, or witness)
- 54% of teens and 40% of tweens engaged in conversations about depression and/or anxiety
- 72% of teens and 53% of tweens encountered nudity or content of a sexual nature
- 18% of teens and 11% of tweens were involved with a self-harm/suicidal situation
- 70% of teens and 54% of tweens engaged in conversations surrounding illegal drugs/alcohol
- 40% of teens and 28% of tweens expressed or encountered violent subject matter/thoughts
*Findings after analyzing over 500 million messages across texting, email, and social media of children ages 8-17 in 2017.
Bark for Schools
Shulman: How do schools use Bark for to monitor potential issues?
Jordan: The vast majority of schools do not monitor the actual content being generated, sent, and received by students on their school email and Google Drive accounts.
Shulman: Are you finding issues throughout school accounts and devices?
Jordan: Yes, there's a surprisingly high degree of cyberbullying, suicidal ideation, sexual content, and threats of violence on school-owned accounts, and there is no nationwide standard procedure for how to manage and address these issues.While school administrators can manually monitor students’ accounts -- every email, every Gchat conversation, and every Google Drive document, spot-checking is both labor-intensive and ineffective.
Shulman: Do parents have to provide approval for Bark at school?
Jordan: Parents do not need to give approval for schools to monitor the school-issued devices (like Chromebooks) and accounts.
Shulman: How does a school set up the system and how do they monitor activity?
Jordan:Bark for Schools takes about seven minutes to set up (school-wide or district-wide). There’s zero ongoing maintenance and free technical support. Bark for Schools uses industry-leading, machine-learning algorithms to continually monitor students’ Gmail messages, Gchat conversations, and Google Drive documents.
Shulman: What happens when Bark catches a potential problem through school platforms?
Jordan: When problems are detected, Bark will notify the specific people who need to know – teachers, VPs, principals, etc. – via email and/or text message. Bark has caught multiple school shooting/bombing threats, which is a topic that unfortunately keeps making headlines. We as parents and schools have to band together to solve this issue, ASAP.
Shulman:You ran a pilot for schools last year. How many concerning issues did you catch?
Jordan:Last fall our initial pilot with 25 schools resulted in over:
- 131,510 issues discovered (an average of 3.22 per student)
- 492 instances of nudity/explicit content
- 300 children expressing self-harm or suicidal thoughts
- 6% of students involved in cyberbullying on school-issued Google accounts
- 2 shooting threats
- 124 instances of children using school accounts to buy, sell, or discuss illicit drugs
Parents and schools can access further data from these two case studies: Annual data and G-Suite Cast Study.
Shulman:How can schools sign up for Bark at no cost?
Jordan: The best way for a school to get involved is to visitour school sign-up siteand register. The process takes about five minutes. A school’s IT administrator will choose which grades they’d like to monitor, and whom they want to receive the alerts. Once school accounts and devices are connected, Bark then sends the designated contact(s) alerts when issues are detected.
Success and the Future
Shulman: Can you share a success story?
Jordan: To date, we’ve had 27 families write in to tell us that Bark’s alerts helped to save their child’s life,as they were imminently suicidal and the parents were unaware. Also, we’ve detected at least 12 school shooting threats.
Shulman: Plans for the future at this point?
Jordan: We plan to continue to scale both Bark for Parents (texting, 25+ social media accounts, email, iOS, Android, Kindle) and Bark for Schools (G Suite and Chromebook monitoring) so we can comprehensively keep as many children safer online as possible. It’s always taken a village, and we are seeing it now more than ever.
To Learn More
If you are interested in learning more about Bark, or would like to sign your school up for free, please visit their accounts at the following:
