Google+ Opens Its Doors to Teens - haassobsell

Google+ is perhaps a unique social network in this it didn't initially market itself to the younger crowd–in fact, until yesterday, Google+ was technically only open to users complete the historic period of 18. (I say "technically" because, Army of the Pure's be earnest, it's not like-minded teens ever really follow the rules.)

Well, now Google is going after the immature demographic: Google+ is officially open for anyone 13 Oregon older. Google is also adding enhanced safety features to keep the kids safe–your typical stuff, so much as more rigid and private default settings, which can be overridden.

Basically, Google wants to make sure teens think before complete-communion.

"Sadly, today's just about popular online tools are rigid and brittle past comparison, indeed teens end up over-sharing with altogether of their thusly-titled 'friends,'" wrote Bradley Horowitz in a Google+ send Thursday. "With Google+, we want to help teens build meaningful connections online. We also deprivation to offer features that foster safety alongside self-expression."

The enhanced safety features let in warnings when teens are about to piss public posts (or rather teens wish exist "encouraged to think" before they post outside their circles), and rigid default privacy settings. E.g., teen Google+ accounts will away default be set to none physical contact from people outside their circles, and if teens are in a Google+ Hangout video chat, they'll exist off if a unknown enters the room.

All of these features hindquarters be overridden–teens can hush up post in public if they want to, and they can change their privacy settings to allow people from outside their circles to contact them. They can also ray-join Hangouts that they've been disconnected from if a stranger enters the room.

Keeping in line with Google+'s weirdly draconian policy on "real name calling," Google wants to encourage teens to represent themselves arsenic real citizenry on Google+.

"Traditional services restrict teens from using wanted functionality, which gives them an incentive to misrepresent themselves," a Google+ spokeswoman told Personal computer Magazine in an e-mail argument. "Our calculate with Google+ is to create an environment that encourages teens to represent themselves on Google+ as they neutralise real life."

Don't tell Google this, but a raft of teens–and people in general–misrepresent themselves in real world.

Anyway, Google+ may operating theatre may not see an influx of teenagers in the future some weeks. That means it's on par with Facebook, which also has an age limit of 13 (non that it matters, apparently). The age restriction is high inSpain (14),Southmost Korea (14), and theNetherlands (16).

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