When Should You Allow Your Children To Have a Social Media Account?

Social media is a phenomenon around the world. People are linking up, talking, chatting, making connections, and getting to know each other very well. Websites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, and LinkedIn are connecting people everyday. However, it is not all roses.

There are a lot of negative aspects to the world of social networking as well, especially when it comes your children. Child predators and crazy people are abound on the Internet. They are looking for weak-minded people and uninformed children on the Internet to take advantage of these days. This makes many parents cringe with the thought of their children going out on the Internet, being exposed to all this negativity and possible danger.

When Should You Allow Your Children To Have a Social Media Account?

However, the reality of this situation is your child will eventually get out there on the Internet, join these social networking websites and get involved in the virtual world. The question I want to pose to you today is when should you allow this to happen?

Most social networking websites have an age requirement restricting the use for most children. Facebook, the most popular social networking website, has an age requirement of 14 years old. Twitter and Google+ age requirement is 13, but what is going to be the right age for your child?

Honestly, I don’t think these age requirements mean much at all. The bottom line is you should allow your children to have a social media account when you feel your child is mature enough to have one. Not all children mature the same, so this is a parental decision that needs to be made, not one based on the age of a child. You have to think it is time to allow your child into the social media world.

Like it or not the time is coming. This moment came into our life this year. Our oldest son is 12 years old, but he has been asking to get on Facebook forever it seems like. However, due to their age requirements we were always able to say he isn’t old enough to get an account, so he would have to wait. Convenient, right?

Well, a few weeks ago he came to us asking could he get a Twitter account. This was out of the blue, but since he was so excited we decided to entertain the request. At the end of his attempt to talk us into allowing him to get an account, we rejected him. However, that wasn’t the end of the consideration on our part.

I began to think that Twitter might be a good introduction to social media for him because it isn’t as all intensive as Facebook or Google+. You can only communicate in 140 characters or less and there are not as many options for uploading pictures and sharing information.

This could be good training ground for him to get his social media etiquette together and learn some valuable lessons. So after a discussion with the wife, who took a moment to get on board with the idea, we decided to allow him to get a Twitter account.

My Reasons for Allowing Our Son to Get a Social Media Account

Research & Opportunity - The main reason that threw me over the edge to allow him to get a social media account was so he could examine the platform, get use to it, and potential grow to create a better mouse trap. There is no secret our son is pretty sharp, so I thought it would be great for him to get a chance to work with Twitter. Who knows, he might create the next YouTube, Facebook or something.

It felt like keeping him off of the social networking platforms would hinder his growth. This might not be applicable to all parents, but since I work on the Internet everyday I am familiar with the possibilities.

Maturity Level – In our eyes, our oldest is a very rational and mature child. This definitely plated a major role in our decision to allow him to get a social media account. We felt if we set the ground rules on how to act and operate in the world of social media, he would honor them to the letter. Overall, he is a great child and knows how to conduct himself.

Monitoring & Passwords – We are very involved parents, so don’t think for a moment we won’t be involved in our child’s social media activities. We have access to his account and his password. In fact, I have his Twitter account attached to my cell phone, so when he gets a Tweet….I get a Tweet. And yes, I am reading them and monitoring his interactions. He is aware of this, but we have explained to him why this is important.

Start Building His Following – As an Internet marketer, I know building a large Twitter following is invaluable. Think about Lady GaGa or Eminem who both have millions of followers. There is massive value in being able to Tweet a message and have hundreds or thousands of people take action.

Our son has an opportunity to start building his following on Twitter. Who knows what will happen over the next eight years, but by twenty years old he could have a massive following. This might be just in time for his most recent invention which he would be able to Tweet to them and get instant feedback or customers. We felt it was better for him to go ahead and get started building his following.

Allowing your child onto the world of social media might not be right for you at the moment, but for us it made sense. There were some very specific rules we attached to his social media use to keep him in line. He knows if he violates these rules, then we will take his social media privileges. In my next blog, I will definitely share these rules with you so you may use them with your child as well. These rules deal with conduct and how to use the platforms properly.

At what age will/did you allow your child to get a social media account?

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