I recently thought it’d be a fun idea to set up Lily with Facebook so friends and family could “talk” with her. Even though she’s only 9.5 months, I think a lot of people would like it. But it’s not that easy.
The first thing I tried was setting her up with her own profile. Facebook does say “anyone can join” but that’s not true. It turns out that you have to be at least 13 years old.
Then I created her a page. I thought this was perfect as it was just like a profile but I didn’t have to specify age. Plus I could post as Lily and I could manage it all in my profile. Then I found out that the page is either completely public or no one can see anything. There’s no privacy or no access, no in-between option.
Then I created a group. It had the privacy I wanted, but I can’t post as Lily so it kind of defeats the purpose.
Then I checked out apps like Babybook which is ok, but shows a lot of ads, and My Babybook which seems nice but doesn’t completely feel like Facebook. Both are a decent solution.
Then I thought I’d just lie and get her own profile by telling Facebook she was born in the 70s or 80s. Shh no one needs to know. The downside here is that I have to manage two profiles.
So far the best option I’ve found is pages, but the lack of privacy settings is a huge disappointment.
I’m not quite sure what I’ll do yet, but what I wish would happen is that Facebook would create a family & pets area where parents could set their kids, and cats, up with Facebook profiles and oversee their activities. Until then, we have to work the system to find a way to get our babies Facebook profiles.
Any suggestions on better solutions to getting Lily on Facebook?
Honestly, I don’t think setting up a profile for your baby would be a good idea. Many of your friends will find it annoying.
You’d only follow your friends who’d be interested. Not everyone you follow needs to follow your baby.
Have you figured something out yet? I really want to do this for my 10 month old son, but the page things are like you said… either too private or not private enough.
I created her an account, lied about the age, and have been using it for a while. I only approve friend requests of people I know and trust and the privacy settings are all locked down. Seems to be working out quite well.
Can you change the birthdate of her profile to the real age when she reaches 13?
Probably. But the chances of Facebook being around when she’s 13 is pretty low in my mind. I’ve already closed the account too as it was a nice idea, but was just to much work.
I’ve set up an email account to a personal domain for my baby boy, anyone can email my him stories, photo’s etc. throughout his life, he’ll get the password when he reaches a certain age as a present, I’m thinking 18, but he’ll need his domain/email before then 🙂 I suspect I’ll need to go in and clear out the crap every now and again, thinking fb would be easier as I would only add ‘friends’ when they are responsible for him, i.e. take him out for the day without us and want to preserve those memories.