LinkedIn will soon open up its online professional networking service to high school students.

    Effective on September 12, the new minimum* age to create a LinkedIn account will range from 13 years old to 16 years old in most countries. China is not included, and will stay at 18 years old.

    LinkedIn is lowering its age requirements so high school students can use a new feature, called “University Pages,” designed to help them learn more about colleges around the world, and connect undergraduates with alumni*.

    About 200 universities have already set up pages on LinkedIn, and the company said thousands of more schools will be given access to the new feature during the next few weeks.

    By lowering its age requirements LinkedIn will open up new growth opportunities, which could help the company widen its usage bringing in more revenue.

    It doesn’t cost money to set up a LinkedIn profile, but the company charges fees to gain additional access and insights into its membership.

    Allowing younger people onto LinkedIn’s network could expose the service to attempts to harass* children. That’s a problem that has plagued* Facebook, which requires kids to be at least 13 years old before they can set up a profile.

    LinkedIn said it will limit what information can be seen on children accounts and will set up a special customer support system to help members under 18.(SD-Agencies)