Wednesday, May 11, 2011

REPORT: 5 Million Facebookers Are Below Age 11

REPORT: 5 Million Facebookers Are Below Age 11

Facebook has 7.5 million users below than the required minimum age of 13. And five million of them are ten or younger.
 

This comes from the June issue of Consumer Reports, which features a special report about online security that appears to be a rehashing of previously reported lore on the subject.

And this publication coincides with another report that came out this week, from Liberty Mutual. The insurer revealed that 17 percent of parents have no angst about their children using social networking sites, a figure that has more than doubled since last year’s result.

A whopping 90 percent of parents admitted to being frequent Facebook users, while 11 percent spilled the beans and confessed to have used the site on behalf of their young child or infant.

One third of the parents did state however, that they do keep an eye on their younger children’s activities as they visit their Facebook accounts.

Interestingly enough, although the minimum age requirement for a Facebook user is 13, many respondants didn’t seem to mind their kid’s age fudging in order to secure an account.

In a concerted effort to stop underage children from opening up Facebook accounts, site administrators do try to enforce its terms of service by booting off an estimated 20,000 youngsters per day that adds up to about 7 million accounts per year.  The move not only safeguards the site but most importantly, it helps protect younger children from sleaze balls, encounters with cyberbullies and exposure to objectionable material.

   Tags:, 

Share

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More