<p>By Heather Kelly, CNNupdated 3:24 PM EDT, Thu October 17, 2013 | Filed under: Social Media</p><p>STORY HIGHLIGHTSFacebook now allows teens to post photos and updates to the general publicThe company wants to compete against younger social networks and appeal to advertisersStricter sharing will be the default, warnings will pop up before post is made public</p><p>(CNN) -- Facebook is relaxing its rules for teenagers. The 13- to 17-year-old set now has the option to share photos, updates and comments with the general public on Facebook. That means strangers, and companies collecting data for advertisers and marketing companies, will be able to see select posts. Teenagers will also be able to turn on the Follow feature for their profiles, which would allow anyone they're not friends with to see their public posts in the main news feed.</p><p>The changes will take effect immediately, the company announced in a blog post. The new setting might help Facebook compete against other social networks that skew younger, and having public data on teens will also help the company appeal to advertisers.</p><p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/16/tech/social-media/facebook-teens-privacy/">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/10/17/facebook-loosens-privacy-restrictions-for-minors-amid-cyber-bullying-concerns/">Facebook loosens privacy restrictions for minors amid cyber bullying concerns</a> (Fox News)</p><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/17/technology/facebook-changes-privacy-policy-for-teenagers.html">Facebook Eases Privacy Rules for Teenagers</a> (New York Times)</p><p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/18/facebook-teenagers-sharing-cyberbullying">Facebook lifts teenage sharing restrictions amid cyberbullying fears</a> (The Guardian)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dexIWqF17qcqZiMlN6tzFBqIVhIoM&ned=us">316 additional articles.</a></p>