Historically, the Facebook it has a strict policy of not allowing minors under the age of 13 within its grounds which, in my view, is a completely correct decision as it is one of the most infested services with controversial content and bad elements of all kinds. Now, however, Mark Zuckerberg’s giant is making the first exception with the launch of the Messenger Kids.
The new application from the Menlo Park company is being made available today, at a preliminary stage in the United States, and will be progressively launched in the rest of the world. It is a way to connect children of all ages with their friends and relatives, always through their parents' accounts who can, of course, control all the child's actions online, see who they are talking to and block certain contacts.
Little ones won't need (incidentally, they can't) create a Facebook account to use the app; only parents who must have a profile on the social network and, from it, will create a “sub-account” of the child providing only his first and last name and, optionally, a profile photo. The user user will then be able to chat by text or video conference, individually or in groups with relatives and contacts of their previously authorized parents; if the child wants to talk to a friend the same age, the parents of both will have to be friends on the network so that they can connect.
Parents, then, will have full control over their child's network activities. They must approve each profile that wants to contact the child, and may block accounts that they suspect are suspicious. If the little ones do something like blocking, parents will be notified immediately. According to Facebook, the app was developed in partnership with the NPTA (National Parent Teacher Association, or the Association of Parents and Teachers of the USA), does not carry advertisements and has contents, such as stickers and masks, designed especially for children.
Messenger Kids, designed for children from 6 to 12 years old, is already available for free on the American App Store and will arrive on Android in the coming weeks. Global expansion will follow.
via Cult of Mac
