Facebook has announced that it is loosening restrictions on users under the age of 18, as it believes teens are the future of social media.
Teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 will now be able to post public status updates and obtain followers of their profile. These were previously only accessible for users aged 18 and above.
Facebook wrote in a blog post: "Teens are among the savviest people using of social media, and whether it comes to civic engagement, activism, or their thoughts on a new movie, they want to be heard.
"While only a small fraction of teens using Facebook might choose to post publicly, this update now gives them the choice to share more broadly, just like on other social media services."
This change will not happen automatically, and users between the ages of 13 and 17 will still only be sharing status updates to their friends. If they wish to make their updates accessible to the public domain, then they must actively change their setting. This is the same for the subscribers; people can’t follow people under the age of 18 unless the teenager has changed their settings to allow it.
The Centre for Digital Democracy has opposed Facebook’s move and believes that this change will have a negative effect on teenagers. However, I’m not so sure. Teenagers are more clued up about social networking and the internet than ever before. Although there are still tragic cases of online abuse and bullying, many teenagers understand the risks involved in sharing personal information and not meeting people in person that they only talk to online.
Children are now able to use iPads faster than their parents and teenagers can build a creative, online profile within minutes, without any help from adults or guidebooks. Restricting the accessibility is not the answer, but ensuring that teenagers have all the skills and information necessary to safely surf the web definitely is.
Don’t underestimate the teenagers of today; as Facebook has clearly recognised, they want to be heard, so let them shout.
