Professional networking site, LinkedIn, has announced it will be dropping its minimum age for membership from 18 to 13 from 12 September.
LinkedIn has said these new ‘student’ profiles will include default settings making less of the user’s personal information publicly visible, with more prominent safety information.
This news comes 24 hours after the social network launched University Pages, which allows higher education institutions to set up profiles on the site.
Christina Allen, director of project mangement at LinkedIn, commented on the changes in a blog post: ‘We believe University Pages will be especially valuable for students making their first, big decision about where to attend college. Therefore, beginning on September 12, we will be making LinkedIn available to high school students who can use LinkedIn to explore schools worldwide, greatly expand their understanding of the careers available, and get a head start on building a network of family and friends to help guide them at every milestone.’
