Facebook App Review

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What is Facebook?

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Facebook is a social media platform where users create profiles, share posts, join groups, watch videos, and communicate with others.

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Owned by Meta, Facebook launched in 2004 as a college networking site but has grown into one of the largest social platforms in the world. While many teens prefer Snapchat, Instagram, or TikTok. Facebook still matters for parents because:

• Many teens get accounts to use Messenger
• Schools, sports teams, and clubs often use Facebook Groups
• Marketplace and community groups expose kids to strangers
• It acts as a “hub” connected to Instagram and other Meta apps

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The official minimum age is 13.

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Today, Facebook is less of a place kids go to post and more of a place they use to connect, message, watch videos, and join communities.

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How Does Facebook Work?

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Users create a profile that typically includes their name, profile photo, birthday, school, and friends.  Once their profile is made, users can post photos, videos, status updates, and stories that are only available for 24 hours. 

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Users can also interact with others by liking and commenting on posts, following brands and people, and joining groups.

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Messaging others on Facebook directs through Facebook Messenger. We have a separate app for Messenger (click here).

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Apart from typical posts, there are also short-form videos on Facebook, live streams, and plenty of recommended content based on your activity. This means a teen’s feed quickly becomes personalized, for better or worse.

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What Do Parents Need to Know About Facebook?

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Facebook is Full of Porn

Just like most social media, Facebook is full of inappropriate content, explicit search results, and links to websites or adult content creators. If you allow your child to use social media, you need to talk to them about pornography. Here are some posts that can help prepare you for those conversations:

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• 10 Before 10: Making Porn a Normal Conversation
• How to Talk to a 5 Year Old About Porn
• Why Kids Look at Pornography
• 5 Ways Pornography Harms
• How to Block Porn for Free

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Facebook is Full of Graphic and Violent Content

It's not all just porn. Facebook is also home to violent and graphic content. Some might be gory. Even with a disclaimer, videos of people dying in real time can show up here. It's important to understand this.

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Facebook is Full of Political Content

Especially during peak political moments, Facebook is often flooded with content about current issues, opinions, and more. This can helpful for learning about what's happening in the world, it can also be one of the worst places to spend your time.

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Facebook is Full of “Tricky People”

That’s our term for strangers online. They’re tricky! Because we don’t know who they are, and they can look and sound like anyone. Even with privacy settings, Facebook is built around networking. So, that means teens will often receive: Friend requests, group invites, and message requests. Many of which can be from strangers. 

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Facebook is Full of Groups

Many parents never look at Facebook Groups, but this is where teens spend time. Groups can include fandom communities, gaming communities, local teen groups, buy/sell/trade communities through Facebook Marketplace (which uses Facebook Messenger). 

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Facebook Marketplace Has Risks

Facebook Marketplace connects users to local buyers and sellers. Teens sometimes browse it like eBay or Craigslist.

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Facebook was not originally designed for minors interacting with local adults in commerce. If your child uses Facebook Marketplace, make sure you go with them and monitor all conversations. Never meet somewhere private, and always ensure your child goes with you. 

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If they really enjoy searching for things on Marketplace, have them send the posts they find directly to you, and you can start conversations about the listing.

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Facebook Leaves a Strong Digital Footprint

Facebook is profile-based and long-term. This means that much of what they post and get tagged in will often stick around, maybe indefinitely. 

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How to Make Facebook Safer:

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Regardless of the app, three actions mitigate the risks we’ve shared. We teach these actions in our parent presentations:

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1. Require approval for all app downloads.
2. Follow the 7-Day Rule
3. Enable in-app controls and settings

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We explain each of them briefly below. If you’ve already set up approvals for downloads and have used the app, please skip to the In-App Controls & Settings.

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Require Approval for App Downloads

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You can control app stores by requiring permission for apps to be downloaded. This is ensures your child doesn’t have access to an app without your knowledge. Here are the steps (for Apple and Android users):

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For Apple Devices:

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To require permission to download an app, you’ll need to set up Screen Time and Family Sharing (Apple’s Parental Controls). We explain this process step-by-step in our Complete iOS Guide (click here).  

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Once Screen Time and Family Sharing are established, here’s how to require permission to download apps on an Apple device:

1. Go to your Settings app.
2. Select your Family.
3. Select the person you want to apply this setting to.
4. Scroll down to “Ask to Buy” and enable.

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For Android Devices:

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You’ll have to use Family Link (Android’s parental controls) to ensure you retain control over what apps are downloaded. We explain this process step-by-step in our Android Guide (click here).

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Once Family Link is established, here’s how to require permission to download apps on an Android device:

1. Go to the Family Link App
2. Select the person you want to apply this setting to.
3. Select “Google Play Store”
4. Select “Purchases & download approval” and set it to “All Content.”

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Follow the 7-Day Rule

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This is our tried-and-true method of determining whether a specific app is safe for your specific child.

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Before you let your child use it, download the app and use it for 7 days.

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Create an account with your child’s age and gender and use it for 7 days. Play through a few levels, review the ads, see if anyone can chat with you, and poke around like a curious child.

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After a week, ask yourself, “Do I want my child to experience what I did?”  Even if you decide to allow them to download the app, now you have a basis for curious conversations about the app when you check in.

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Enable In-App Controls & Settings

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Facebook offers safety tools, but they must be turned on.

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How to Set Up Facebook Supervision

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1. The Parent Creates a Facebook Account

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The parent must have their own Facebook account (you don’t need to friend your child).

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2. Go to Meta Family Center

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On a phone or computer:

1. Open Facebook
   
   
2. Tap your profile picture (top right)
   
   
3. Tap Settings & privacy
   
   
4. Tap Settings
   
   
5. Scroll down to Family Center
   
   
6. Tap Supervision
   
   

(You can also search “Family Center” in the Facebook search).

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3. Send a Supervision Invite

1. Tap Create invitation
   
   
2. Choose how to send it:
   
   
   • Messenger (easiest)
     
     
   • Copy link
     
     
   • Email
     
     

Your teen must open the link while logged into their Facebook account and tap Accept.

Once they accept → supervision is active.

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Facebook Messenger Settings

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Again, please see our Messenger App Review to ensure this is set up safely.

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Bottom Line: Is Facebook Safe for Kids?

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For elementary and middle school ages, no. We don’t recommend Facebook. For High school students, it can be okay with supervision (follow the steps above).

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Facebook isn’t the most popular teen social app anymore, but it is one of the widest-reaching. Facebook quietly connects teens to large networks of people they don’t actually know through groups, messaging, and recommendations. It’s a digital community center. With strong privacy settings and parent involvement, it can be manageable, but without setup, teens are interacting in a very risky and public online space.

What if I have more questions? How can I stay up to date?

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Two actions you can take!

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1. Subscribe to our tech trends newsletter, the PYE Download. About every 3 weeks, we’ll share what’s new, what the PYE team is up to, and a message from Chris.
2. Ask your questions in our private parent community called The Table! It’s not another Facebook group. No ads, no algorithms, no asterisks. Just honest, critical conversations and deep learning! For parents who want to “go slow” together. Become a member today!

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