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XBL Twitter/Facebook for over 18s

Teenagers shunned for the moment.

Xbox Live will restrict the use of Twitter, Facebook and Last.fm to Gold subscribers aged 18 and over.

Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb explained that the beta age-requirement would carry over into the full product until the Xbox Live team can code some proper parental controls into the new features.

"We made this decision because as it stands now, parents aren’t able to use Family Settings to customize which of these applications their children can access," explained Larry Hryb on his blog.. "In order to offer an age-appropriate environment for everyone, we decided to turn off these applications for those Gold members under the age of 18.

"As expected, this has been a hot topic with the preview users. We want to make sure everyone was aware, however, that the development team is working on an update that gives parents the choice of which social applications their children can access.

"This means that Xbox LIVE members between the ages of 13 and 17 will be able to use Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm as long as their parents approve," he added. The team hope to roll this out several weeks after launch and I will update you on the exact date as it gets closer. 

Hryb said the Xbox Live social update will launch to the world "soon".