A Consumer Reports study released this week showed that millions of children use Facebook without supervision. The report highlighted a growing dilemma for parents: How should they monitor their children’s social networking activities?

Consumer Reports found that 7.5 million children with Facebook accounts were younger than 13, which violates the Palo Alto company’s rules. But the study also found that the vast majority of those accounts were unsupervised by their parents, which might be only the tip of the iceberg of a larger problem, said Jeff Fox, technology editor for Consumer Reports magazine.

At least two startups in recent weeks have rolled out new technology aimed at helping parents monitor their children on Facebook, although experts agree that technology alone is not a substitute for parents taking an active role, including learning for themselves how social networking works. [Read more...]