Your kids are into Big Floppa

The Big Floppa meme and the fourth season of Stranger Things were the trendiest online searches of the last three months, according to a new study.

The research, conducted by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, has revealed the most popular kids’ interests on Google and YouTube over the three months from June to August.

Since the launch of Season 4, Stranger Things has been wildly popular worldwide. According to statistics, the fourth season broke an all-time record as viewers watched it for 287-million hours in the week of May 23-29.  Kids also explored new games, memes and bloggers. 

Kaspersky analysed anonymised data provided by users of parental control software Kaspersky Safe Kids from 1 June to 22 August. The data included search queries on Google and YouTube.

Big Floppa is an internet meme based on a caracal named Gosha, also referred to as Gregory. Gregory is a less preferred name and the meme community uses the name Floppa, in reference to the caracal’s distinctive, large tufted ears. The original Big Floppa following spawned an internet subculture based on caracal memes in general.

It was the most popular meme of this period Googled by kids, with one-fifth of all requests (20%). 

Gaming was one of the most popular categories, with a 10% share of searches. Roblox was the most-searched game, with 33%, well ahead of Minecraft, in second place at 9%, despite its huge popularity among children. Nintendo’s recently released Pokemon Scarlet and Violet accounted for 5% of searches.

What did kids search for on YouTube?

Kaspersky provided the following information on most searched topics:

Stranger Things

Among all the requests for cartoons, movies and TV shows 16% of all YouTube queries, there was a huge interest in the fourth season of Stranger Things. Children searched for not only videos related to the series, but also the actors and characters who portray the main characters in the series. This time, the most famous actresses were Millie Bobby Brown and Sadie Sink.

The popularity of Stranger Things also migrated to the music arena where music requests on YouTube amounted to 16%. The most frequently searched videos that kids were looking for were Chrissy Wake Up – a video created from clips and pictures from season four, as well as Kate Bush’s track, Running Up That Hill (1985) which one of the main characters enjoyed listening to.

Pink Sauce

The Pink Sauce meme became an interesting phenomenon. It appeared on TikTok and was created by blogger Chef. Pii as she released a pink sauce for food. There were some scandals around the product, and both the quantity of sauce in the package and the quality of the product itself were actively discussed. When Chef Pii first started promoting her product in June, she posted videos of her holding up the packaging and drizzling the pink sauce over a variety of foods. However, at first, the chef would not reveal the flavour or ingredients of the sauce, merely referring to it as “edible and natural.” The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the U.S, has warned consumers not to eat the Pink Sauce as it is not approved by the FDA and there have been cases of people getting food poisoning. Chef Pii has since apologised and is working on having her product FDA approved. 

Gaming bloggers

Along with memes, children were most interested in games across YouTube over this period – this category accounts for the largest number of requests at 27%. The most searched were game bloggers with 35% and bloggers specialising in Minecraft content with 27%.

Influencers who film various types of content like challenges or lifestyle got 20% of all children’s queries. The most popular blogger was Spencer X, who shoots music-related content. He has 2.66 million subscribers on YouTube and 55.1 million on TikTok. 

“We regularly see children’s interests and trends change quickly. Literally every quarter there are new memes, movies and heroes appearing. For example, the game The Backrooms was popular three months prior, and now Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is already at the top of the list. Keeping track of all the changes can be quite difficult if you are not a child, so parental control apps can help parents understand all the trends and topics,” says Anna Larkina, web content analysis expert at Kaspersky.

The full report about kids’ online interests is available via this link.

Here are some tips from Kaspersky for keeping kids safe online:

• Don’t neglect to show interest in your kids’ online activity. Ask them if you can watch their favourite series or listen to music tracks together. As an option, you can learn together some secure practices to stay safe online.
• A good option can be parental control apps. But it’s important to discuss this topic with your child to explain how these apps work and why they’re needed to stay safe online.
• Explain that sensitive information should only be shared via messengers and only with people they know in real life. You can be a role model and show them good examples of good behaviour.
• Spend more time communicating with your kids about online safety measures. Try paying attention to your own habits. Do you use your smartphone while eating or talking? Are your kids mimicking any of your habits or behaviour patterns? Do they react in a different way when you put your phone away?
• Make talks about cybersecurity more enjoyable and interesting by discussing them with your child through games and other entertaining formats.