Should kids under 13 be on Facebook? Mark Zuckerberg approves

As Facebook continues to dominate the social network realm, one of the sticking points is the number of little kids who sneak on to the site using fake ages, as well as the general debate over online safety and kids.

Nowadays, it’s relatively easy for a parent to monitor a child’s internet activity, and the number of gathering spots on the web that are kid-safe are is pretty high. And while elementary and grade school kids are currently barred from creating Facebook profiles, Mark Zuckerberg admits he’d like to open the service to ankle-biters.

At a Senate Commerce Committee sitting, Zuckerberg was confronted about the “dangers” posed to kids by Facebook use, but he did not waver from the stance that exposing kids to technology is a net good:

“[Allowing kids under 13 on Facebook] will be a fight we take on at some point. My philosophy is that for education you need to start at a really, really young age,” he said.

The media predictably is citing “cyberbulling” and predators as possible risks of underage Facebook use, but both risks are seriously minimized by sufficient parental involvement. Do you think the service should be open, at least in part, to kids? What about something like adding them under a parent’s account, so parents could monitor their kids’ accounts similar to the way pages are administrated?

Would you let your third-grader on Facebook to talk to Grandma or keep in touch with friends?