Not enough privacy controls and definitely not for younger kids. I am almost 14 and I prefer sites like scallyroo.com and twitter.com. They are more suitable for young ppl.
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Is it age appropriate?
About our ratings -
Is it any good?
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Common Sense says
Posts are move private, but personal info now at risk.
updated 12.03.09
Why We Rated This 
for Ages 14–16
The good stuff
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Educational value:
What to watch out for
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Online interaction:
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User-created content:
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Violence:
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Sex:
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Language:
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Consumerism:
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Drinking, drugs, & smoking:
How safe is it?
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Personal privacy:
What Parents Need to Know
This review of Facebook was written by Carla Thornton
Parents need to know that privacy policies have shifted at Facebook and not entirely for the better. There are two welcome new changes: a convenient per-post privacy option, and a system-wide block that prevents teens’ conversations from being seen by the world, even if they choose to share them with “Everyone.” The bad: Facebook now makes more profile info public. Users can diligently tweak privacy settings to hide it, but anyone who types in a user’s vanity Facebook URL, say www.facebook.com/cindysmith, can still see profile info such as city and fan pages. More than ever, parents need to decide whether Facebook is worth the risk, and if so, go over the privacy settings one by one with their teens.
Families Can Talk About
Talk to your kids about the media in their life. We have more tools and tips that can help
- Families can talk about appropriate use of social networking sites and what to do if they encounter inappropriate behavior on sites like Facebook or MySpace.
- Stay current on the digital influences in your kids' lives, so you can manage the media in your home -- not the other way around.
- Parents should get up to speed on Facebook so they have a sense of what kids are doing on it.
Use this website? Review It!
More on Facebook
What’s the Story?
FACEBOOK.COM started as a very exclusive club limited to college kids; now, the social site is open to all (though users must be at least 13 years old to join). Once a member, you can choose to join one or more "networks" -- a constellation of people at your school, your job, or in your region. When you join a network, others in that network can read your profile if you want them to. You can join "groups" that form around a common interest, like a band or a hobby. Users create profiles of themselves: interests, schools attended, political views, and more. You can choose to let only your friends (or certain friends) see your profile, allow only people in your networks to view it, or opt to have no limits at all. Users post photos to their online albums, send messages to one another, scribble notes on each other's "walls," and send "gifts" (icons that cost $1 after the first free one). There's also "The Marketplace," which allows members to post and search classifieds. An IM function is coming soon.
Is It Any Good?
Facebook is a great place for keeping in touch with friends and making new ones. The interface is bright and inviting and makes it a snap to share thoughts, photos, links, videos and more in a constantly updated news feed. As with any open social networking site, kids can easily lie about their ages to join Facebook -- and then post dodgy stuff that could haunt them later. The good news is Facebook’s new safeguard for minors, which at least blocks kids’ posts from showing up on the Internet. On the downside, Facebook now makes more of a user’s profile info publicly available. It’s up to users to painstakingly tweak settings to hide this info.
Our Members Say
See all 131 member reviews
Most Recent Reviews
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I rate this title on for age 10 and give it
- My highlights are:
- Educational
- Safety isn't an issue
- User content is age appropriate
Not for tweens and teens
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I rate this title on for age 10 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Inappropriate sexual content
- My highlights are:
- Educational
- Safety isn't an issue
- User content is age appropriate
very fun,and active
I love facebook!! everything is very fun and it can be edicatianl because it teaches you how to cook on cafe world and how to take care of pets and do things on zoo world also they have chatting websites that rock!! very fun!! an active you should join if u can!!
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I rate this title on for age 13 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Excessive violence
- Inappropriate sexual content
- Inappropriate language
- Excessive consumerism
- Drinking, smoking, or drug use
- Safety is an issue
- User content isn't age appropriate
- My highlights are:
- Educational
- Safety isn't an issue
- User content is age appropriate
HOLD UP!
ok, I asked my mom for a facebook, and she said no. Later on we went on the site later, adn realized YOU HAVE TO BE AT LEAST 13 TO HAVE A PAGE!! Some people in my class have them and OBVIOUSLY they aid they are 13! To all those 10 and 11 year olds who commented, your are lying about your age and i hope your parents know that. My mom sai das soon as i turn 13 i cant have one.
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I rate this title on for age 13 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Excessive violence
- Inappropriate sexual content
- Inappropriate language
- Excessive consumerism
- Drinking, smoking, or drug use
- Safety is an issue
- User content isn't age appropriate
- My highlights are:
- Educational
- Safety isn't an issue
- User content is age appropriate
HOLD UP!
ok, I asked my mom for a facebook, and she said no. Later on we went on the site later, adn realized YOU HAVE TO BE AT LEAST 13 TO HAVE A PAGE!! Some people in my class have them and OBVIOUSLY they aid they are 13! To all those 10 and 11 year olds who commented, your are lying about your age and i hope your parents know that. My mom sai das soon as i turn 13 i cant have one.
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I rate this title on for age 10 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Inappropriate sexual content
- Excessive consumerism
- My highlights are:
- Safety isn't an issue
Privacy settings makes it OK, just ignore ads.
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I rate this title iffy for age 13 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Safety is an issue
- User content isn't age appropriate
- My highlights are:
- User content is age appropriate
It's both good and bad for teens...
I have a Facebook, and it's pretty fun! I keep safe by using my privacy settings, giving my mother my password so she can feel secure with the fact I'm safe online, ignoring friend requests from strangers, etcetera. There are some kids who aren't as careful-- I mean, there are people who lose jobs and educational opportunities by what they've posted on here! If you make an account, be prepared to be face to face with a lot of issues like strangers friend requesting you, cyberbullying right before your eyes, and even little stabs at your self-esteem (there is this horrible application called Friend FAQ that allows friends to anomonously answer questions about you, and you'll no doubt get the occasional insult, which can hurt very bad). If you act mature and don't cause trouble on Facebook, it can be really fun-- you can talk to friends you don't see very often and get to see others from a different perspective. You can also take fun quizzes.
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I rate this title off for age 9 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Inappropriate language
- Safety is an issue
I think this is good for older kids in the teens
I have a facebook. If you are looking into getting one you should really think about the privacy settings. The privacy settings let you show your profile to you and your friends only. Not the whole world! If you have privacy settings, then I think this sight is really nice cause you can talk to your friends and ect.
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I rate this title iffy for age 10 and give it
- My highlights are:
- User content is age appropriate
i love this site.
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I rate this title on for age 12 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Safety is an issue
- My highlights are:
- Educational
- User content is age appropriate
love this site cant live without it
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I rate this title iffy for age 11 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Excessive violence
- Inappropriate sexual content
- Inappropriate language
- My highlights are:
- Safety isn't an issue
thumbs up
love it i go on it a lot and its safer than myspace
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I rate this title iffy for age 9 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Excessive violence
- Inappropriate sexual content
- Inappropriate language
- Excessive consumerism
- Drinking, smoking, or drug use
- Safety is an issue
- User content isn't age appropriate
- My highlights are:
- User content is age appropriate
GREAT for 15+, iffy for 9-14, OUT for 8-.
It's not that I hate it, its that nowadays, more people can hack into systems (a friend of mine even had that happen! :O) and there may be user pics that are sexually innappropriate or messages on members' walls. Another thing is language. Yes, there's probably some "whaa da f---, I can't believe *** is going out with ***!" or saying a rival is a b----. Its just not appropriate! Someone may have a Rocky Horror Picture Show pic in their photos, which is frightening for young children who may surf the web. Other examples may include saying that you got into a bar fight with a high bartender or a friend may be putting you down cuz you had an arguement! Ads are popping up on the=ose little screens ALL the time, your kids could click on one and it could say, "Congrats! You're the 100,000th person to visit this site! Just fill in your name, address, and phone #, we'll give you a free Nintendo Wii!" Yeah, right! I've been there, done that. (Truthfully, it DID pop up!!!) On the bright side, some people post GREAT vids. on their page and are pretty decent. My cuz. has a cool vid. & I hav the song still stuck in my head after 5 months!!! It's a great site, and I don't mean to make anyone be afraid of it, you just sometimes need to forget about the good and warn people about possible outcomes! Whew! That typing sure killed about 25 minutes! Thanks SO much for reading!!! :)
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I rate this title on for age 11 and give it
- My highlights are:
- User content is age appropriate
Great for Tweens 11+!
Facebook is now way better than it used to be! With new, safer privacy settings, I can actually feel safe on it now. It also has a THOUSAND apps to play on, so its really fun too. I reccommend Facebook to 6th grade and up, 5th grade even if they can be responsible and only accept friend requests from people you know. I have a Facebook and I got it in 5th grade.
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I rate this title on for age 12 and give it
- My highlights are:
- Safety isn't an issue
- User content is age appropriate
Really not
Its really not that bad of site as long if u no who ur adding
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I rate this title on for age 9 and give it
i have one it's fine
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I rate this title on for age 12 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Excessive consumerism
- Safety is an issue
- My highlights are:
- User content is age appropriate
great website for teens and mature tweens
as a teen i use this site all the time. the safety features are good but younger kids can always post their personal info. its great for communicating with friends and connecting with old friends. there is a lot of ads that get kinda annoying but it isnt a big deal. if your kid is mature enough not to give out info (phone number, address, etc) its a great website.
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I rate this title iffy for age 13 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Excessive violence
- Inappropriate sexual content
- Inappropriate language
- Excessive consumerism
- Safety is an issue
- User content isn't age appropriate
Good for older teens
Firstly, it is actually against site policy for a child under the age of 13 to even sign-up. If it is discovered that a user is under that age, they will be removed from the site. There is a good deal of sexual content, as well as advertising. Some of this can be filtered out through filters built into the site, as well as ad blocking software. The applications can be even more iffy than the social networking. I found a crass user name on the Naruto game application. I figured seeing it was a kids cartoon I would report it. Unfortunately, the game is not ran by a company that only acquired rights, Crunchyroll. They quoted, "The Naruto game is relatively un-moderated so we don't really change names or anything." This should set off flags to parents. There are also violent apps such as Mafia Wars, in which you obtain bloodied weapons, or take hits out on each other. There are some kid safe apps as well. FarmVille is one of them. If your child is pretty trustworthy, and has a good head on their shoulders, Facebook can be a decent place. It is a great place to talk with your friends, share photos, and play a few games. Just like most of the internet, proceed with a little caution.
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I rate this title on for age 10 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Inappropriate sexual content
- Inappropriate language
- Excessive consumerism
- User content isn't age appropriate
- My highlights are:
- Safety isn't an issue
Perfect for tweens, preteens and adults!
I think that this is a great social networking site! The only problem is that the advertisments are annoying and some of the user comments and content is not appropriate but it depends on what you're looking at.
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I rate this title iffy for age 12 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Inappropriate language
- My highlights are:
- Safety isn't an issue
facebook...
i am on facebook right now and i can tell you its great! i am chatting to my friend about if facebook is for kids. but we both said no. because once this stranger added me and she kepet on seanding me bad messeges like once she sent me this " F--k you. i dont like you at all. your a loser and the rest of my friends think so to!" so if you want to go on facebook your perents should know and you should just be friends with the peaple you know. but i know for a fact that it can be safer then a safe home if you want it to. peaple chosse how safe it is. if you want it not to be safe then you can make it that way. so it really is up to you!
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I rate this title on for age 8 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Excessive violence
- Inappropriate sexual content
- Inappropriate language
- Excessive consumerism
- Drinking, smoking, or drug use
- User content isn't age appropriate
- My highlights are:
- Educational
Da-MMu=Dartboy astro - Monkey Master user
It is OK, a really big network. The website contains games which can have effects on the websites rating.
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I rate this title iffy for age 13 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Inappropriate sexual content
- Inappropriate language
- Excessive consumerism
- Drinking, smoking, or drug use
- Safety is an issue
- User content isn't age appropriate
- My highlights are:
- User content is age appropriate
I love it for myself (adult age) because of the social aspect and silly little apps and games. But for kids, I don't like how some apps are so geared towards sex, drugs etc. Wish there were a way to block apps, so this site could be more "kid friendly"...
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Ratings at a Glance
| 67% | of parents feel user generated content is iffy |
| 44% | of parents feel the site is not safe |
| 44% | of parents say they notice product placement |
| 44% | of parents say it has language their kids can't use |
| 44% | of parents say the sexual behavior isn't age appropriate |
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