Facebook continues to be one of the biggest social media networks on the planet. It is now expanding its reach to younger audiences.

Expanding Messenger Kids

Loren Cheng, Facebook's product management director, and Tarunya Govindarajan, Facebook's project manager announced on June 22 that the social media company would be expanding its Messenger Kids app. Messenger Kids, which is an app designed for kids 13-year-olds and under, will be available in Canada and Peru. Messenger Kids is a way for children to connect with their older siblings and family members who use Facebook.

When the Messenger Kids app arrives in both countries, Facebook will offer children the ability to download in-app in Spanish and French. The social media company's software engineers designed the child-friendly app to strengthen their creativity and build upon their relationship with their loved ones and close friends. They also collaborated with a group of researchers from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence to make Messenger Kids an acceptable platform for kids to use.

Features And Foes

Messenger Kids has a pledge that every user needs to commit to before signing up. The Messenger Kids pledge has four rules: "be kind," "be safe," "be respectful," and "have fun" that users must follow. The app also has kindness stickers and is expected to feature a section called "Missions," which would teach children basic social media principles such as sending photos over Messenger Kids and setting up a video call.

While Messenger Kids was first introduced in December 2017, it gained a growing list of opponents who were unhappy with its creation. Twenty groups including Parents Across America and the American Civil Liberties Union wrote a letter to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and called the app's creation "irresponsible." In May, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood sent a petition that contained 21,000 signatures for Facebook to discontinue the app.

Facebook Update

Facebook is toying with the idea of charging Facebook groups to post on their group page. Facebook group administrators could cost anywhere between $4.99 to $29.99 to give members access to exclusive content. The social media company believes that would be a great way for administrators to earn money to help their communities grow.

Earlier this month, Facebook launched a new section called Memories. This new area allowed its users to take a quick nostalgia trip to revisit some of their past posts. Several features in this section include "Friends Made on this Day," "Memories You May Have Missed," and "Recaps of Memories." It was reported that "Memories" was created to engage in more organic sharing.

Facebook also removed the Trending section from users' news feeds. Company leaders stated that they removed this section to build future news experiences for the social media network. The Trending section was first introduced in 2014 in only four countries. It is currently testing a Today In feature, which highlights breaking news.

Tech Times reached out to Facebook for a comment on this story.