Facebook Parental Controls Review

Facebook parental controls provide social network monitoring, privacy and protection. You wouldn’t let your child go out without knowing where they’re going, who they’ll be with, what they’re planning to do and when they’ll be back. Why would you settle for anything less online? With parental controls software for Facebook you can keep tabs on your kids without interfering. Our in-depth reviews and comprehensive evaluation will help you compare the best Facebook parental controls software, including ZoneAlarm SocialGuard, TrueCare and SocialShield.

Social networking has become as much a part of a teen's coming-of-age as learning to drive, worrying about gym class and thinking differently about members of the opposite sex. What kids do online may be more permanent than getting a tattoo, carry more weight on college entrance than an ACT score, influence their character more than any extracurricular activity and have a greater impact on their reputation than anything that happens at school. What happens on Facebook, doesn’t stay on Facebook.

You can think of teen social networking as a high-school road trip to New York; the appeal is spending time with friends, seeing new things and sharing new experiences without adult supervision. But even if your kid is the safest driver on the road and is going with trusted friends, as a parent you can’t help but worry about everything else out there.

Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and text messages are great ways for kids keep in touch with friends, express themselves and develop social skills. Unfortunately, the virtual playground is also fair game for cyberbullying, sexual predators, identity theft and objectionable adult-oriented content. Furthermore, the technology divide has a way of dulling our senses and making it seem OK to say things we’d never say to someone’s face, post pictures we’d never think of sharing in public, and further compromise our privacy in the name of social networking.

Learn more about the dangers of teen social networking and what you can do to help protect your kids with our articles about Facebook parental controls.

Important Features of Facebook Parental Controls

You’re probably wondering which Facebook parental controls are the best or which social network monitoring tool is right for your family. We used the following criteria to evaluate the best Facebook parental controls and discover which ones are the most effective, easiest to use, and flexible enough to meet the needs of your individual family.

Features
The best Facebook parental controls have a robust feature set with tools to help parents keep their kids protected on social networks. Parental controls for Facebook can help identify dangers (some you probably didn’t even know were possible), monitor risky behavior, stay alerted on activity, moderate friends and even review posted pictures.

Protection Effectiveness
The ultimate goal of Facebook parental controls is to protect your child. How well a social network monitoring application works depends on how aggressive the filtering is, what monitoring technologies are used and how they are actually implemented. The most effective parental controls for Facebook have a dynamic approach to accommodate the unpredictable nature of social networking (not to mention teenagers).

Scope
Inappropriate content is only one of the digital dangers of teen social networking. With comprehensive Facebook parental controls you will be able to protect your children from sexual predators, cyber bullies, strangers and objectionable content. But more than external risks, you can also protect your child from themselves by looking out for oversharing, suicide talk and other risky behaviors.

Alerts & Reporting
Sifting through everything that one of your kids says on Facebook walls could be a full-time job, to speak nothing of two or three children with multiple social networking accounts apiece. Timely alerts and summary reports help busy parents manage their kids' online behavior without getting lost it in. The best Facebook parental control applications can provide insight with overload, making it easy to know what’s going on while still maintaining your distance. You don’t even have to “friend” your kid.

Flexibility & Ease of Use
Monitoring your kids’ social network activity shouldn’t be difficult or time-consuming. With an intuitive interface, usable features and practical reporting, everything about Facebook parental controls should be easy for busy parents. The best parental controls for Facebook can provide useful insights even if you don’t know anything about social networking yourself. And of course the application has to be flexible. Your family is unique, and the best Facebook monitoring tools can adapt to your parenting style. With age-appropriate settings and custom controls, you should be able to gently monitor one child and keep a heavy eye on another, all from the same Facebook parental control application.

Facebook can be a dangerous place for your kids to play, but it doesn’t have to be. With powerful Facebook parental controls you can keep tabs on your kids without interfering. Whether you’re trying to protect their reputation and privacy, keep an eye out for cyberbullying and strangers, or just learn more about what your kids are doing online, you can be a good online parent with the best Facebook parental controls.

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