Social
networking giant Facebook
is really going after the youth market. Yes, it’s no more a rumor now.
What is Facebook Under-13 Plan and How it May Affect You and Your Kids?? Experts' Views |
After
having heard for past few weeks about the Facebook plans for expanding its
reach to include children under 13, the report published in Wall Street Journal
has confirmed that Facebook is actively testing options to create a safe,
child-friendly space on the site.
According
to details; Facebook may allow kids under 13 to create an account under
parental supervision. Parents would be able to link their accounts to their
children's and control friend requests and third-party applications. The
under-13 features could enable Facebook and its partners to charge parents for
games and other entertainment accessed by their children.
Facebook
currently bans users under the age of 13, although officials admit that of the
900 million users worldwide, there are an estimated 7.5 million kids under 13
already using the popular social media site by lying about their age when they
register. But why make it easier to the under-13 crowd to get access to
Facebook?
There
are some mix views from the masses about Facebook’s new plans to let children
under 13 using an extended version of Facebook.
Some of the parenting experts have deemed it totally unnecessary to
allow children under 13 to use Facebook whether independently or under the
parents’ accounts.
James
Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media - an advocacy organization for
kids and media – responded to Facebook’s under-13 plans saying; there are
enormous social, cognitive and development issues that have to be considered
(when dealing with social media and kids) and Facebook has no expertise in that
area. And there are currently enormous privacy concerns regarding the teens who
already use it and the preteens who sneak on. Why on earth would we suddenly
turn over our 8-year-olds to them while they haven't addressed very well many
of those issues yet? It doesn't make sense.
SOURCE:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-06-04/facebook-question-answer/55386056/1
Report
Tags: Facebook, Social Media, Social Network, Facebook for Children, Facebook
for Under-13, Baby Facebook, James Steyer, Social Issues,
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