News In Brief

Are you Facebook friends with your parents?

Daryl Paranada May 4, 2010

Status update: Have you gotten a friend request from your mom or dad?

About 48 percent of parents add their children as friends on Facebook, according to consumer electronics shopping website Retrevo. The site surveyed more than 1,000 adults for the survey.

From Retrivo:

Andrew Eisner, director of content at Retrevo adds, “It looks like more parents with teenage children are more likely to be friends with their kids, although many admit it can be awkward at times but they say they do learn a lot about their teenagers, which is probably why children are so hesitant to “friend” their parents to begin with.”

Other findings from the survey:

  • When asked at what age it’s appropriate for kids to have their own social media pages on sites like MySpace or Facebook, 26% said over 18, 36% said 16-18, 30% said 13-15 and 8% said under 13.
  • When asked whether or not texting is allowed during family meals, only 1/3 of parents said texting was not allowed.
  • When children misbehave, 47 percent of parents said the mode of discipline most effective is talking to their kids, 27 percent said not letting them go out, 22 percent said no TV, 18 percent said no Internet, 15 percent said no mobile phone, and just 12 percent said no social media usage.

Whether you’re friends with your parents on Facebook or not, you may have noticed the big hoopla over its recent privacy setting changes. Recently, four senators have called for the Federal Trade Commission to do more to protect consumers using social-networking sites and to probe Facebook over privacy issues.

If you want to become Marketplace’s friend on Facebook, click here and let us know what you think about the site’s recent changes.

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