Social networking sites becomes accessible to kids

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» 29 March 2010

Social networking sites becomes accessible to kids

Based on a latest study done by the regulator Ofcom, there had been an increase in juvenile access to social networking services such as Facebook. It was discovered that about one-fourth of underage children were able to register in these websites. And, comparing with the previous data, there was an increase of 15 percent from last year’s records.

Increasing number of children use social networking services

Ofcom’s newest edition of yearly-released report, Children’s Media Literacy Audit, was released later this week. It was stated in this document that there is one in every five children, aged 8 to 12 years old, who manages to create an account in Facebook even if the set minimum age requirement of the social networking services is 13 years old. There was, however, a decrease of 11 percent on Bebo and about 4 percent on MySpace.

In addition to this, about 11 percent or one in ten underage users aged 8 to 12 years old leave their profile pages, which are found in social networking sites such as Facebook, Bebo, and MySpace, open to public.

More parents are knowledgeable of their children’s access

Parents do watch out for their children’s online activities. About 9 in every 10 parents (93 percent) know that their children visit the popular social networking sites available today. They also check on whatever their child is doing while utilizing the said services. But then, there are still about 17 percent of parents who are not conscious that their child makes use of these social networking services.

Protection of children is the top priority

Just recently, there was a news in the Daily Mail where in Facebook is being used by pedophiles in order to get in touch with children. Facebook is now being asked to negate the said assumptions being thrown at them.

This popular social networking site was also included in the argument with the home secretary regarding the issue of putting panic button on the main pages. Facebook turned down this idea but they are thinking of adding this method on the Safety Center of their site.

Child safety had become a major concern in these social networking websites due to the murder case of the teenager Ashleigh Hall. It was discovered that murderer got in touch with Hall through Facebook.

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