Blog post by: Steve Vanevenhoven, Baer Performance Marketing Intern
Facebook has been around for about eight years and is the fastest growing and largest social media site in the world. Currently, Facebook is available to anyone who is thirteen or older. However, this age restriction may soon change. Some information leaked out indicating that Facebook is thinking about letting children under thirteen create an account.
This will increase the amount of users on the site and would be financially advantageous for two reasons. Firstly, Facebook could of course benefit from additional advertising sales. Secondly, a large percentage of revenue from Facebook comes from games like Zynga or Farmville. Tweens make up the main age group that plays similar games online. Nevertheless, should Facebook be concerned with the potentially dangerous role social media could have on youngsters?
To combat concerns, Facebook agreed that before they would allow tweens to sign up for an account, they would create a monitoring system for parents. This would allow parents to see what their child is posting. In addition, parents would be able to monitor what apps their child could sign up for and restrict who could be friends with them.
Do you think this is a smart road for Facebook to be heading down? Would you be concerned with the effect Facebook might have on your child’s development?
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