Facebook Now Allows Teens to Post Publicly
Facebook announced on the 16th October that it
will take away some of the existing restrictions on teenagers that don't allow
them to post publicly, and that sets the maximum audience to friends of friends.
Facebook is taking its first step in allowing teenagers a public voice on the
platform, as they are already allowed to on other social media networks like Twitter.
Is this an attempt to keep the younger generations involved in Facebook and
stop them from switching to other rival networks?
The announcement also declared that the first time a teen
who is new to Facebook posts, the default setting will be friends only, as previously it was set at friends of friends. This should lead teenagers to
become more aware of who they are posting their content to online. When they do
choose to post something publicly, they will see a warning telling them that
the post can be seen by anyone, not just the people they know.
Facebook’s audience settings remain unchanged from post to
post for all users, including teenagers. Therefore, if a teen shares a post
publicly, they will need to be aware that the audience setting will remain on “public”
for the user’s next post. Teens will, however, also get a second reminder
message showing up if they choose to post publicly second time round. This
reflects an increasing awareness of the need to control what you post online especially for young children who use social media. A recent law in California has allowed teenagers to delete posts which they created on social media networks before heading off to college or applying for jobs
therefore allowing them a ‘clean slate’. However, this shows an attempt to
prevent content like this being posted in the first place, and an attempt to
make teens more aware of the damage it could do to their reputation if they
were to post something publicly which they shouldn’t have.
Facebook wrote in its latest blog post “teens are among the
savviest people using social media, and whether it comes to civic engagement,
activism, or their thoughts on a new movie, they want to be heard. So, starting
today, people aged 13 through 17 will also have the choice to post publicly on
Facebook”. This shows a move to take an
approach similar to that of other social media services like Twitter, which
already have the option for teenagers to post publicly on their sites. Facebook
also commented that, “these changes are designed to improve the experience for
teens on Facebook. As part of this, we are also looking at ways to improve the
way teens use messages and connect with people they may know”.
What do you think?
Do you think that that teenagers should be allowed to post
publicly in the same way that adults are allowed to?
Facebook Now Allows Teens to Post Publicly
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Reviewed by Anonymous
on
Friday, October 18, 2013
Rating:
Anonymous
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