Facebook recently floated the idea that it is considering expanding it's social media website to children under 13 years of age. This morning USA Today asked two child experts their opinions of this decision. Not surprisingly both the child advocate and the child psychologist thought that this wasn't such a good idea.
USA Today didn't ask me. I admit that I'm not a child expert. Unless you count the fact that I raised 4 children. Unless being a grandpa of six counts. For what it's worth, these are my thoughts as a grandpa and a pastor. There are 3 big reasons why Baby Facebook is a stinker.
Stinker Reason #1: Children under 13 aren't ready for the social interactions of the internet. Toddlers and preteens are still trying to figure out the social interactions of the playground. It's hard enough to get that right. Sure, Moms and Dads should be supervising them - but the truth is many parents don't do this well as they should. What is put on the Internet stays on the Internet! Consider just one childhood trauma that you suffered through as a kid. Would you want that following you around the rest of your life? I'm grateful that I don't remember much of it. I don't want Facebook reminding me. Also kids aren't ready to make such an adult decision as to whether they want to be internet connected or not. I love Facebook and being connected to family and friends. My brother - just two years younger - has no desire to do the Facebook thing. Same for my dad. At one time, my adult daughter decided to take a Facebook fast and left the social web for an entire year. Leave the adult decisions not just to the parents of the kids, but to the kids themselves - when they become adults!
Stinker Reason #2: The parents of pre-teens aren't ready to supervise these children on the internet. The one thing that Moms and Dads should be able to do with absolute authority - and certainty - is manage the social interactions of their children. My parents taught me and I taught my children (and I hope they are teaching their children) that one of the most important things to learn is who your friends are. We are defined by the friends with whom we hang out. Throwing Facebook into consideration makes this job so much more difficult. The whole definition of "friend" changes with Facebook. As an adult who knew what real friendship meant for 5 decades before Facebook changed the idea, I can differentiate between "friend" and "Facebook friend." The 5-year-old will struggle with this subtlety. Besides all this, which adult friends would even want to risk being "friends" with a youngster on the Internet? Who wants to be that special uncle exchanging photos with a kid? Moms and Dads, don't forget that your main social objective of child-raising (teaching your child the value of solid relationships) and Facebook's social objective (connecting as many people socially to one another as possible) are miles apart. In this regard, Facebook is NOT your friend!
Stinker Reason #3: This is a terrible idea for Facebook too. I understand that Facebook is not on the same growth curve of new users as they used to be. And I know that the pre-teen market is a valuable advertising market. I get it - Facebook wants to be to today's kids what television was to my generation. Facebook, your timing stinks! You just came out with your initial public offering, which hasn't gone so well. Your newest investors are feeling not only like they're losing money (which is bad enough), but also that they didn't have all the same facts as the largest institutional investors. So now you want to solve your growth problems by exploiting children? This is your solution? Holding out the shiny apple of social marketing to kids? I'm wondering if someone is asleep at the switch over in Facebook Land!
