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?