Google has opened its social networking site, Google , to teenagers and announced new features to ensure their safety. The Google services until now was limited to users above 18 years. The new age limit is however unavailable in countries such as Spain, South Korea and Netherlands, where the age requirements are higher. The new safety features include categorising users who can contact teens online and tweaking the Hangout group video chats. Facebook, which claims to have more than 800 million users, is open to anyone aged 13 years and above.
“With Google , we want to help teens build meaningful connections online,” Bradley Horowitz, a vice president in charge of the service, said on his Google page. “We also want to provide features that foster safety alongside self- expression.”
Moreover, Google has also announced integrating its Google Earth into Google . This means Google users can now share sattelite maps with their friends on the social networking site. Google , launched in June last year, is Google’s latest foray into the social networking segment. With the new Google social network, the company aims to rival Facebook, which is presently the largest social networking site in the world. Google recently hit 90 million users figures. However, the figures are pretty small as compared to Facebook’s 800 million plus users.
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