Facebook Aims to Court Teens With More Public Posting Options

The adage should be familiar by now: Teens may have a Facebook profile, but they sure don’t think it’s cool anymore. Facebook is starting to become a bit like its younger, hipper competitors. Starting Oct. 16, 2013, new Facebook teenage users age 13 through 17 will now be able to create public posts viewable by any other user, whether or not they’re connected to one another on Facebook.

Heretofore, teenagers were only allowed to make posts viewable to friends, or people that were one-degree separated from in their direct network (“friends of friends”). Facebook postures the move as no big deal -- just like any other social network would allow for. Teens who are new to the network will begin posting to “friends” by default, and pop-up tutorials will explain how to change privacy settings in case they want to go public. A quick caveat for privacy advocates: Teens who are new to the network will begin posting to “friends” by default, and pop-up tutorials will explain how to change privacy settings in case they want to go public.