Grom Social site for kids could halt Facebook's growth
Summary: New social networking site Grom Social is created 'by kids for kids'. and is poised to attract young social networkers away from Facebook with its focus on safety and parental approval.
There are over 1 billion Facebook accounts which leaves it little space to grow. Facebook needs to attract millennials to continue to grow as it stated in its IPO last year. So perhaps it is about time that Facebook had a competitor which is also aiming to capture the youth market.
However, some parents are concerned about exposing their children to adult content. They also have concerns about privacy and unsuitable language. Some are unhappy about their children using the site.
Zach Marks was one of these children who were prevented from using Facebook by his parents. He lied about his age to create an account on Facebook. He quickly became addicted as Facebook consumed all of his time. He began to accept friend requests from adults that he did not know.
A friend of the family told Zachs father about Zachs activities. He had over 600 friends and was exposed to adult content, conversing with adults in a fashion that no 11 year old boy should be doing said Darren Marks, Zachs father.
Zach had to deactivate his account, and a second Facebook account that he activated. The 11 year old then started to look around for another suitable social networks for kids that were safe and cool.
Not being able to find any suitable sites he decided to create his own site, Grom Social: a Facebook for kids.
According to the site a Grom is A promising young individual who is quick to learn. The term is usually applied to boarders or surfers. Grom Social is specifically aimed at children under the age of 16.
Zachs parents, Darren and Sarah Marks are part of the Grom Social team and make sure that the site meets rigorous standards. Members over 16 years old are marked as adult and must be approved by an existing child's parent or legal guardian.
The site has filters in place and live monitoring as well as adult forum monitors. Emails are sent to parents / guardians to advise them of their childs contacts and which topics their child is interested in.
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Grom Social site for kids could halt Facebook's growth