You might be wondering, what the heck is OoVoo anyways?

OoVoo is a powerful video chat application that allows people to connect via video, instant messenger and voice. It has lots of other powerful tools, but why does you're teen want it?

Well one thing that sets OoVoo apart from competitors like Google Voice, Skype and Facebook's new video chat is that OoVoo allows you to group video call. You're teen can video chat with up to 3 people for free. There are payment plans for video chatting 5 and 6 way calling as well as allow phone callers to connect to a video chat. Pretty cool huh?

OoVoo is also recently available for mobile by the way. My daughter asked if she could download OoVoo on our family computer recently which prompted me to write this post. She already uses Skype so after asking "What the heck is an OoVoo?" she basically describes all the features of Skype which is free. I ask her what's so special about an OoVoo and the primary reason teens want to use it is because of the group video chat feature. Groups of teens can get on a call and see each other, take screen shots of video conversations, chat, connect with voice callers etc.

For a teen video chatting provides a level of trust with the person they are talking to since they can actually see the person. In terms of trust I would say video chatting is a good security check to verify you're talking to who actually think you're talking to so video chatting has a plus there. With the amount of texting kids do today there's no way to know for sure you're teen is not talking to a creeper since it's not hard to spoof a phone number (more on that later).

Whats the upside to my teen using OoVoo?

• It's free up to 3 way video calling
• OoVoo supports HD video
• Teens can see each other to confirm who they are talking to

What's the downside to my teen using OoVoo?

• While the robust features are very cool, you're teen should still avoid any potential embarrassing or risky behavior. Apply the same rules you would to "sexting" here.
• OoVoo allows users to share their desktop. If you've got any sensitive information on you're computer you may want to educate you're teen about screen sharing. Screen sharing is a great tool for product demos and providing tech support, but you may not want to expose any embarrassing emails to you're teens friends. Get the idea?
• If you're teen doesn't have unlimited data on their phone and plan to use OoVoo you'll want to pay extra attention to the data usage. Video streams can cause you're data usage to skyrocket if it's not kept in check.

Can I monitor my teens activity on OoVoo?

Yes, with most keyloggers, mobile spy software and computer monitoring software they will provide at a minimum screenshots of video activity. The better question is should you?

Overall OoVoo is a great communication tool for you're teen, but when considering if you should allow you're teen to use it or not I'd ask something along the lines of the following;

• Does you're teen have any history of risky online or mobile behavior?
• Does you're teen have an unlimited data plan?
• Do you trust you're teen to use OoVoo responsibly?

We allowed our teen to use OoVoo, but we got familiar with it first as I suggest you do if you're considering you're teen using OoVoo or any new communication tool for that matter.

• No video calling in bed or somewhere hidden. In my experience once a child tries to hide something it's probably not something I would agree with.
• We should be able to check the call logs when we want.
• No nudity or anything that even resembles risky behavior.

In a nutshell I wouldn't let my teen use OoVoo if I didn't trust her or if she's had some history with risky behavior. If you suspect you're teen is using OoVoo or other video call applications in a harmful or risky way you can use a keylogger, computer or mobile spy monitoring software to find out if any rules have been broken. I hope this helps and good luck!