Teenagers who are active on social networking sites will now be able to post their status updates publicly on Facebook as well. This change in Facebook’s policy will apply to teenagers in the age group of 13-17 who have a Facebook account.
Earlier, Facebook allowed teenagers to post only to a select audience -- like their own circle of friends or friends of friends. Now any posts by users will can also be made visible to anyone who visits the page. Facebook will also allow teens to turn on the ‘follow’ option so that their posts can be displayed in the subscribers’ news feed.
In order to ease users into the new option, FaceBook said two reminders will be put in place to warn teenagers that their posts could be seen by anyone and not just people they know.
“When teens choose ‘Public’ in the audience selector, they will see a reminder that the post can be seen by anyone, not just people they know, with an option to change the post’s privacy,” Facebook announced in a post.
In addition, the first post that a new teenage user makes on Facebook will now be restricted to only his/her friends instead of the earlier limit of friend of friends. This will mean that unless the user changes the settings personally, all posts will automatically be shared only with friends.
While Facebook justifies the move saying teens will be given the same choice as other social media services, many parents in the city are unhappy with the new measures.
“Young children cannot stay away from social networking. However, I am not comfortable with my son’s posts being visible to anyone. Parents must explain what the new options mean and ensure that posts meant for family and friends are not shared with the whole world instead,” said Anitha K, a parent.
Facebook, unlike other social networking sites, has a strict policy on users providing their correct name.