On Monday, Facebook announced Messenger Kids, a stand-alone mobile app that allows children age 13 and under to use the service. The point of the new app, the company said, was to provide a more controlled environment for the types of activity that are already occurring across smartphones and tablets among families.
There’s only one possible response here.
Did no one watch Silicon Valley and see what happens?
ICU
Bro
“Every additional friend request requires approval by the parent.”
Because they live in that perfect world where kids never get their hands on their parents devices…
As well as that, how is the parent going to know what a friend is really like? We all know schoolkids can be as nice as you like one day, then someone else is flavour of the month the next. And then there’s the whole “Why haven’t you added me yet?” sort of thing that will no doubt go on.
Facebook must be desperate for new slaves to social media. Like Drug Dealers who operate outside Schools, the aim is to get them young and you will have them for life.
I’d like to ban Facebook(and the rest) but that will never happen (sadly) but it seems that I’m in the minority of people who will never sign up to any of these (anti)social media sites.
I was thinking something similar. Get ’em hooked while they’re young.
This is like McDonald’s who also targets children despite the fact that they sell poison as food. I hate McDonald’s because it targets the weak, that is, children with feeble-minded parents.
Anyway even if people find Facebook’s targeting of children ridiculous now they will accept it in the future if Facebook pushes through.
If the government wanted they could use the constitution as toilet paper and turn the dollar into a fiat scam. Oh wait, they already did. And almost everyone is OK with it. Facebook has similar power.
Edited 2017-12-05 13:01 UTC
Like ipotty was not enough..
“Right now for kids, the time they spend on devices is very passive,†said David Marcus, vice president of messaging products at Facebook. “It’s not really a device that helps you connect with others close to them.â€
“We can’t let the current state of things prevent us from doing our jobs, which is to solve real problems in people’s lives,†Mr. Marcus, the head of Messenger at Facebook, said.
Highlighted for amusement value. Giving kids a separate Messenger with a bunch of restrictions added into it? Oh yes, they’ll love it. What I’m wondering about, however, is where is this really coming from. Is it fear that they’ll eventually share AIM’s fate? Or is it the usual data prospector’s greed and trying to gather all the kids in the kiddie pool to improve ad accuracy? What about the flip side? It might just as well turn into “Tinder for Predators”.
Edited 2017-12-05 16:45 UTC