Bad social media? There’s an app for that

ROCKY RIVER — “She is so ugly.”

“No one likes you.”

“Party at Hannah’s — BYOB.”

It’s out there, like it or not, for all the world to see.

Once it is put on social media, you can never take it back.

But it’s not only what is put out there, but what is trying to get in — adult men trying to message a 13-year-old girl on Instagram; naked pictures showing up on a 10-year-old boy’s news feed. Neither instigated by the child, yet, it’s still there.

And social media continue to grow — Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat.

Dan, left, and Chip Krueger of Bay Village created Oxbow Social Media Monitoring App. PHOTO PROVIDED

A 2011 study by the American Academy of Pediatrics shows that 22 percent of teenagers log onto their favorite social media sites more than 10 times a day, and that 75 percent own cell phones.

But monitoring a child’s or teen’s activity can be difficult and time consuming.

Brothers Chip Krueger, 39, and Dan Krueger, 42, both of Bay Village, have developed the Oxbow Social Media Monitoring App, “an app that allows parents to instantly and easily monitor, review and take more control over social media content.”

“My kids are at that age where their friends already are on Instagram and other social media sites,” said Chip Krueger, the father of 9½-year-old Jack and 6-year-old Leo. “I thought I’d have a bit of a window before they started asking, but it’s coming a lot quicker these days.”

As fathers, Chip and Dan Krueger wanted the tools in place now to have those important conversations about social media with their kids later.

“This is personal for us,” said Dan Krueger, father to a 6- and 2-year-old.

A demonstration of the Oxbow app. PHOTO PROVIDED

“Two years ago, we came up with the idea,” Chip Krueger said. “Danny tracked down the software developer, and we’ve been working with LeanDog for a year and a half.”

Neither Chip nor Dan Krueger has a background in software or computers. Dan Krueger, an Ohio State University graduate, works in construction; and Chip Krueger, also an OSU grad, works in financial services.

“The challenge is that people have ideas all of the time, but there is that hurdle of how to do it,” Chip Krueger said. “Once we started working with LeanDog, it really took off.”

This app delivers real-time capabilities to prevent and stop negative situations before they happen, such as cyberbullying, oversharing and inappropriate selfies. In addition to efficient monitoring capabilities, users also have the option to employ Oxbow’s patent-pending technology that gives parents and other trusted adults the ability to approve or deny each post before it is released into cyberspace for the world to see.

The brothers spent months talking to focus groups around the Cleveland area to get an idea of what parents and educators needed in a monitoring app.

“A lot of parents don’t use Instagram,” Chip Krueger said. “Oxbow allows them to see what their kids are seeing, block people and content that shouldn’t be there and flag content that they hope to talk about later.”

The National Federation of High School Sports has partnered with Oxbow to make its athletes aware of how social media can affect their sports careers, college options and scholarships.

“There have been a lot of cases where scholarships have been lost because of social media posts, weird handles,” Chip Krueger said.

The brothers will launch Oxbow this weekend in Dallas at AT&T Stadium during six high school football games to be played there Friday and Saturday. Oxbow is challenging the 12 schools to try out the new app, and the district with the most sign-ups wins money for the school.

For now, Oxbow only is able to monitor Instagram. In the next few weeks, the app will work with Twitter and eventually Facebook.

Parents can try Oxbow for 30 days free of charge. If they like it, the app costs $3.99 per month, about 13 cents a day.

“There is value in what we are providing,” Chip Krueger said. “We want parents to try it out and see if it’s something they will use. We’re pretty confident they will want to use it. You can tell your child to stay away from the pool, or you can teach your child to swim and be safe. That’s what Oxbow does.”

Oxbow is available on the App Store.

Contact Christina Jolliffe at 329-7155 or ctnews@chroniclet.com.

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