Facebook lifts restrictions to let teenagers share their posts with ANYONE on ...

Teenagers can now make posts public - making them visible to anyone Posts by users aged 13 to 17 can also now be 'followed' by strangers Site made the changes because teens are 'among the savviest' of users Default privacy is being changed from 'Friends of Friends' to 'Friends' Young users will also be warned about what posting publicly means

By Victoria Woollaston

PUBLISHED: 05:17 EST, 17 October 2013 | UPDATED: 05:45 EST, 17 October 2013

If any parent was ever in two minds about letting their teenager use Facebook, their reservations may be about to increase as Facebook has allowed young people make posts public.

This means anyone on the social network will be able to see the posts, click through to the young user's profile and see any other publicly shared information.

By adding this option to users aged between 13 and 17 it also means they can let strangers 'follow' their public posts.

FACEBOOK REMOVES PRIVACY OPTION FOR ADULT USERS TOO

If a friend then interacts with the post - either by liking or commenting on it - the status appears on that friend's news feed - making it visible to even more people.

Before the update Facebook prevented under 18s making posts public; the widest audience they could reach was Friends of Friends.

In a blog post, Facebook said: 'Teens are among the savviest people using social media, and whether it comes to civic engagement, activism, or their thoughts on a new movie, they want to be heard.

'So, starting today, people aged 13 through 17 will also have the choice to post publicly on Facebook.

Facebook previously set the default privacy for posts made by these younger users as 'Friends of Friends' yet 'going forward, when people aged 13 through 17 sign up for an account on Facebook, the initial audience of their first post will be set to a narrower audience of 'Friends.'

The blog continues: 'In addition, teens will be able to turn on Follow so that their public posts can be seen in people's News Feeds. As always, followers can only see posts they are in the audience for.'

Before a post is made public, Facebook said it will display a warning message to remind users what posting publicly means and to make sure they understand the consequences before posting.

As Facebook explains: ' We take the safety of teens very seriously, so they will see an extra reminder before they can share publicly.'

Facebook allows people aged 13 and over to sign up to the site, but new users only need to put in their date of birth to confirm their age - the company does not verify the information.

Commenting on the news, Jeffrey Chester, executive director for the Center for Digital Democracy in the U.S said: 'Facebook is claiming they are giving [parents and teens] more options to protect their privacy. But in reality, they are making a teen's information more accessible.'

He continued the announcement 'actually removes a safeguard that teens currently have.'

Facebook faced a backlash from users and privacy campaigners earlier this week after announcing it was changing its privacy settings for adult users, too.

Facebook previously let people hide their profiles in search results using the 'Who can look up your timeline by name?' setting, but the social networking site is retiring this feature.

The option was removed from the accounts of people who hadn't enabled it last year, and Facebook has announced it is removing the feature from everyone else's accounts starting from now.