Facebook is coming for your kids.
The social media giant is launching a messaging app for children to chat with their parents and with friends approved by their parents.
The free app is aimed at kids under 13, who can91裸聊视频檛 yet have their own accounts under Facebook91裸聊视频檚 rules, though they often do.
Messenger Kids comes with a slew of controls for parents. The service won91裸聊视频檛 let children add their own friends or delete messages 91裸聊视频� only parents can do that. Kids don91裸聊视频檛 get a separate Facebook or Messenger account; rather, it91裸聊视频檚 an extension of a parent91裸聊视频檚 account. Messenger Kids came out Monday in the U.S. as an app for Apple devices 91裸聊视频� the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Versions for Android and Amazon91裸聊视频檚 tablets are coming later.
A KIDS-FOCUSED EXPERIENCE
While children do use messaging and social media apps designed for teenagers and adults, those services aren91裸聊视频檛 built for them, said Kristelle Lavallee, a children91裸聊视频檚 psychology expert who advised Facebook on designing the service.
91裸聊视频淭he risk of exposure to things they were not developmentally prepared for is huge,91裸聊视频� she said.
Messenger Kids, meanwhile, 91裸聊视频渋s a result of seeing what kids like,91裸聊视频� which is images, emoji and the like. Face filters and playful masks can be distracting for adults, Lavallee said, but for kids who are just learning how to form relationships and stay in touch with parents digitally, they are ways to express themselves.
Lavallee, who is content strategist at the Center on Media and Child Health at Boston Children91裸聊视频檚 Hospital and Harvard University, called Messenger Kids a 91裸聊视频渦seful tool91裸聊视频� that 91裸聊视频渕akes parents the gatekeepers.91裸聊视频� But she said that while Facebook made the app 91裸聊视频渨ith the best of intentions,91裸聊视频� it91裸聊视频檚 not yet known how people will actually use it.
As with other tools Facebook has released in the past, intentions and real-world use do not always match up. Facebook91裸聊视频檚 live video streaming feature, for example, has been used for plenty of innocuous and useful things, but also to stream crimes and suicides.
HOOKED ON FACEBOOK
Is Messenger Kids simply a way for Facebook to rope in the young ones?
Stephen Balkam, CEO of the non-profit Family Online Safety Institute, said 91裸聊视频渢hat train has left the station.91裸聊视频�
Federal law prohibits internet companies from collecting personal information on kids under 13 without their parents91裸聊视频� permission and imposes restrictions on advertising to them. This is why Facebook and many other social media companies prohibit younger kids from joining. Even so, Balkam said millions of kids under 13 are already on Facebook, with or without their parents91裸聊视频� approval.
He said Facebook is trying to deal with the situation pragmatically by steering young Facebook users to a service designed for them.
MARKETING MATTERS
Facebook said Messenger Kids won91裸聊视频檛 show ads or collect data for marketing, though it will collect some data it says are necessary to run the service. Facebook also said it won91裸聊视频檛 automatically move users to the regular Messenger or Facebook when they get old enough, though the company might give them the option to move contacts to Messenger down the line.
James Steyer, CEO of the kids-focused non-profit group Common Sense, said that while he liked the idea of a messaging app that requires parental sign-ups, many questions remain. Among them: Will it always remain ad-free, and will parents get ads based on the service?
91裸聊视频淲hy should parents simply trust that Facebook is acting in the best interest of kids?91裸聊视频� Steyer said in a statement. 91裸聊视频淲e encourage Facebook to clarify their policies from the start so that it is perfectly clear what parents are signing up for.91裸聊视频�
