While many internet users go online daily in order to make money, many internet users go online just to have fun. Among such people are many children, who go online for many reasons, including the reason to experience the internet phenomenon and also to have fun. Because of the continued increase of young users on sites like Facebook and MySpace, many people are starting to question the idea of such sites monitoring children’s activities in order to protect those children.

Today we ask what may be one of the most personal questions of your or other people’s life: How should the online activities of your children by monitored by social media sites?

Benefits of Social Media monitoring children’s online activities

There are many reasons why parents and other people may want social media sites like Facebook and Flick to monitor the online activities of children. Social media sites can ensure that children are not targeted in any illegal online scams. Social media sites can also try to ensure that children are not lured into danger by kidnappers, pedophiles and other people who wish to harm the children in question. Many times, social media sites can intervene before there are online or offline fights due to online disputes. Also, majority of the law enforcement agencies strongly support the idea that social media sites should observe everyone in order to ensure that no one gets hurt because of the people they meet online.

In such cases, stronger privacy and monitoring rules enforced by Social Media sites can help. Many people are of the view that only through observing everything that a child does online can it be made sure that the online surfing experience of a child remains safe. If a child is not monitored, how can parents know who their child is talking to online? How can people ensure that the children of our society are safe from hurtful people and topics without actually monitoring and finding out about the existence of those children and the people and topics they run into?

Drawbacks of Social Media monitoring children’s online activities

The issue of monitoring anything itself can result in a lot of privacy concerns, and the topic of monitoring children in order to protect them is no exception. For many people, monitoring children’s activities is a form of spying itself, and a very objectionable and unethical activity. Many people believe that regardless of the age of a child, privacy should be entitled to everyone and available to everyone. That is why for the opponents of the trend of monitoring people, the monitoring of users including younger children by social media websites counts as a form of spying in on potential customers in order to come up with better products.

Could companies use the idea of monitoring children’s activities online as a way to further their own marketing research and agenda in order to sell products to such children later on? How can children’s online activities be safe and protected when they are fully available and monitored, and not hidden, from the very websites that they visit?

Poll: How should social media sites monitor children’s activities?

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