Social networking website Facebook is waning in its popularity with teenagers but becoming increasingly used by children.

An estimated 40 per cent of Maltese children aged seven to 12 have a Facebook account despite being younger than the age stipulated by the social media giant to hold an account.

Vanessa Camilleri, an assistant lecturer within the Faculty of Education, explained the 40 per cent statistic, which she and her colleagues gleaned while researching digital and video game usage in Malta, tallied with statistics released by the Malta Communications Authority (MCA).

“We didn’t investigate further and delve into whether they lied about their age, used their parents’ account or whether someone did it for them. But what we know is that this is not a new trend or just pertinent to Malta.”

While Facebook retains its popularity with children as well as adults, its popularity with teenagers seems to be declining.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have any empirical studies but we have been observing this trend.

“While teenagers still retain their Facebook profile, they don’t use it as much. Many prefer to migrate to Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat.”

Many teens prefer to migrate to Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat

According to studies conducted abroad, Ms Camilleri continued, this was because with so many people on Facebook, including parents and siblings, teenagers felt it was invasive.

“It’s common for teens to have lots of Facebook friends, because the perception is that the more you have, the more popular you are.

“But to reach their immediate circle of friends, teens prefer to, for instance, use photo messaging application Snapchat, which allows them to communicate directly with a closed group of friends. Children, on the other hand, yearn to be on Facebook.”

A spokesman from Be Smart Online, a project aimed at promoting internet safety coordinated by the MCA, explained that allowing children to be on Facebook was equivalent to allowing the same children to interact with strangers in the streets.

“Parents should ask themselves whether they would allow their children to be contacted by strangers and also whether they trust their children’s judgement on privacy and reputation.

“If one has to highlight one particular danger with Facebook, and any other social media in general, is that it magnifies the consequences.

“In the case of bullying, for example – whilst traditional offline bullying occurs in the presence of a limited audience, online bullying occurs in front of an unlimited and undefined audience.”

He explained that most parents were aware of their children having an account.

“Of foremost importance is that, should parents allow their children to have an account, they are encouraging them to lie about their age.

“On the other hand, it is our opinion that parents are in the best position to assess the maturity of their children and decide whether they should allow this to happen.”

Should the parents allow their children to use social media, they should, together with their children, review the privacy settings at least on a bi-weekly basis, the spokesman suggested.

They should also communicate with their children about the activities they do online.

“Keeping an open line of communication will increase the chances that the children will come to them for help should the need arise.”

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