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Facebook announced yesterday that teen users will now have the option of sharing their posts publicly, where they previously could only share photos, status updates, and links with friends and friends of friends.

Facebook explained the reasoning behind the change as a move to amplify teen voices in a press release yesterday.

鈥淭eens are among the savviest people using social media, and whether it comes to civic engagement, activism, or their thoughts on a new movie, they want to be heard. So, starting today, people aged 13 through 17 will also have the choice to post publicly on Facebook.鈥�

However, some critics have suggested that the change has less to do with the needs of teenagers and is more of a marketing strategy.

鈥淚t鈥檚 all about monetization and being where the public dialogue is,鈥� said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a group that lobbies against marketing to children told the New York Times. 鈥淭o the extent that Facebook encourages people to put everything out there, it鈥檚 incredibly attractive to Facebook鈥檚 advertisers.鈥�

Others have raised concerns that teens may not fully understand the implications of posting publicly. For its part, Facebook maintains that it will periodically remind teens that have selected the public option that means that people they do not know can see what they post, according to the press release.

However, not all teens have the same understanding of what kind of a message their posts send to the world and how it can change the way others view them.聽

鈥淣aive 13-year-olds might wrongly assume that anything inside the site or app鈥檚 blue walls can鈥檛 be used against them,鈥� reports Josh Costine for Tech Crunch. 鈥淏ut should that mean intelligent, responsible 17-year-olds with driver鈥檚 licenses should be able to post publicly? It鈥檚 a nuanced, subjective thing to judge.鈥�