Facebook is feeling the pressure when it comes to the next generation, and it has spent the last few years trying to find ways to engage with preteens and children, despite not allowing anyone under the age of 12 to use its site directly, the latest entry in a Wall Street Journal investigation into the tech giant reveals.
Internal documents reviewed by the Journal reveal that Facebook considers preteens "a valuable but untapped audience," and the company seems aware that it's facing the rise of other social media platforms like Snapchat and, more recently, TikTok. So, over the past five years it has been making "big bets" on designing products that could appeal to a younger audience, an effort sure to be scrutinized given concerns about children's safety and privacy on social media.
At one point in 2019, a Facebook team even conducted interviews with children to gauge whether they could encourage them to use the Messenger Kids app while hanging out with each other in-person, resulting in an internal presentation titled "Exploring playdates as a growth lever." The takeaway was that most kids did not use the app when spending time with their friends in person, and it also noted that parents weren't sold on the idea, likely because they hoped a playdate would actually be a chance to escape from their screens. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutinySpeed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
