Social media sites for kids - worth looking at?

[Mij]

So DD1 (10, young Y6) is bugging me about instagram and Snapchat. I know there are a few social media sites designed for children/teens and so in theory 'safer' than FB etc, and of course you wouldn't have to break their minimum age requirement to use them. Has anyone tried them? Do the kids use them or are they actually populated by precious 5yos and everyone over 10 is on the adult sites anyway?

DP and I use social media both personally and at work so we know our stuff (pros and cons). DD is a smart and mostly confident but also a very anxious child (massive over-thinking, huge worrier), and I know how awful SM can be, even when people aren't actually setting out to be vile let alone when they are. Which is why I'm wary of going along with the 'oh they all do it anyway, just check their settings' approach, even though we're reasonably relaxed parents as a rule.

She's also quite the eccentric so while she gets along with lots of people she doesn't completely click with more than 2 or 3 who she considers 'proper' friends, and only 1 of those is at school. Several of her mates have smartphones, which are often hand me downs after parents upgrade so come with apps (FB, Snapchat etc) already installed. DD1 has an elderly buggy tablet that hasn't been upgraded for a while so not everything is compatible (eg Whatsapp) and she doesn't have a smartphone, and won't until at least Y7 and possibly not even then, if she can't demonstrate that she can look after the ancient Samsung her Grandad lent her! She keeps misplacing the damn thing and forgetting to charge it.

[Mij]

Bumping...

[M00MINMAMMA]

I've got the same question - would be good to have some responses from people with older kids. Ds is 9 and hasn't even mentioned it yet but dh and I were discussing it because we know a lot of kids with phones at age 10.