~Muhammad Ali
Flip.com write-up:
Caught somewhere between Oscar the Grouch
and Oscar de la Renta, today’s young women are experimenting with
everything from their bedroom wall color to their hair color, trying on
friends the same way they would a pair of jeans, and learning who they
are in the process.
Hollywood has made a mint off these years, portraying teenage girls as
little more than catty, superficial and clueless. But clueless they are
not. And Condé Nast, the venerable parent of Vogue and its kid sister,
Teen Vogue, knows it.
“It’s not that we don’t know the audience. We know them very well, but
why not involve them directly with us,” said Gonzalez of the Flip
squad. “Why not have the audience be a part of the conversation with
us? Let’s get their ideas directly from them.”
And so Condé Nast turned to the experts — a think-tank called the Flip Squad made up of eight high school girls. For the past 10 months, these young women met with editors, brainstormed ideas, test-drove the Web site, and proved valuable assets in developing a popular Web site in an already crowded online community.
The defining feature of Flip.com, as its name suggests, is its
“flipbook,” a collagelike element where girls can create
online scrapbooks about whatever strikes their fancy — be it
photography, Barack Obama, fashion, rubber duckies. Members are
encouraged to showcase their creativity and personalities through their
flipbooks.
“We all felt that there needed to be a place like this, a place where
especially teen girls could just go and create something and not just
absorb different things, but really make some kind of output,” said
Abigail, a high school senior and member of the Flip Squad.
ABC News: Meet the Flip Squad
If you had asked me about two weeks ago which quote I would have chosen for flip.com– i would have picked:
“Children are unpredictable. You never know what inconsistency they’re going to catch you in next.” ~Franklin P. Jones
Why that quote for that article? Well, about two weeks ago I had answered a comment-call on ypulse… She asked, what do you think of flip.com? Luckily enough I had been invited to the beta site, where I got to play around with it. I loved the advertisement angle. I actually fell for ‘em– “ooo,” I thought, “I wonder what the new princess dresses from Vera Wang look like” (insert giddy giggle, and the tapping of fingers, Mr. Burns style).
My assessment had been that: great design, nice thought, but would girls spend all their time creating stuff if there was no hope that boys would be there too? Tweens, Teens, College kids are all riding that “me me me” wave. It’s not a bad thing– how else do you figure yourself out? But with teen girls, boys are a HUGE factor. Would they spend so much effort putting themselves on that site without hope of boy flirtation? I dunno.
After reading the aforementioned article, I actually think it could have a chance. Girls do try to impress other girls. And they are dying for a place to creatively express themselves. (I mean seriously, who didn’t write angsty poetry? I feel like that’s a part of the experience).
As always, time will tell. But i dug the article above, and I hope flip.com pulls through.
