Today, Google announced that they are opening up their social network, Google+ to teens. This move brings Google into a more competitive position with Facebook. Bradley Horovitz, the President of Google+, said that this "selective sharing" will be better equipped to handle the privacy needs of teens compared to the often confusing privacy settings of its competitor.
Says Horovitz,
"Over time, the nuance and richness of selective sharing even promotes authenticity and accountability. Sadly, today’s most popular online tools are rigid and brittle by comparison, so teens end up over-sharing with all of their so-called 'friends.'"
Furthermore, Horovitz claims that opening Google+ up to those 13 and above will help to foster safety along with self expression, while allowing teens to branch out in the realm of social media.
The goal of Google+ for teens is to help them share important information with the right people, encouraging them to group by family, friends, classmates and more. To further promote this, Google+ will ask teen users if they truly want to publish a post that may go "public" as opposed to posting to a particular circle. Also, only those within a teen's circle will be allowed to converse with them in a hangout or contact them personally.
With many teens looking for the next greatest trend or fad to follow, this could play to Google's advantage. Yet, given the wide reach of Facebook, it is hard to know if this major change to Google+ will have a correlating effect on their teenage audience.
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