Facebook is changing its privacy policy for teen users, and so parents may want to check out their kids’ profiles before things get out of hand.

In a blog post, Facebook stated that teen users will now have the option of sharing content publicly.  Before, Facebook did not allow minors to create an account, then changed it and allowed 13-17 years old to create accounts, but their posts were not shared publicly.  Teens using such an account can share stuff only with their friends or friends of friends.  Now, teens will have the same power as adult Facebook users, sharing anything they want – photos, posts, notes publicly.

“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,” said Facebook in a post.

Aside from posting publicly, teens can also turn on Follow, so that their public posts can be seen in people’s News Feeds.

Facebook stated that the changes aim to enhance the experience of teens using its service, but questions will now be asked about the potential dangers this could expose children too.

According to Facebook, they will be sending extra reminders to teens who opt to share posts publicly.  These reminders will warn them that their posts can be seen by anyone, not just their friends and people they know.  And if they choose to continue posting publicly, another reminder pops up, reiterating the fact that the posts will be available for anyone to see.

In other social media news, some Twitter users are encountering problems when sending links via direct messages.  Engadget reported that the issues lies in unverified users sending direct messages to verified and unverified users.  At first, people believe that Twitter is rolling out a new policy with regards to sending direct messages, that users now need to be verified Twitter users in order to send links via DM, but a Twitter spokesperson stated that the service is having “technical issue with URLs in direct messages,” and not much else, no new policy is being rolled out for DMs.