More: Kids Social Networking

In fact, most of these sites are remarkably safe. For example, at sites like Webkinz, members can only chat by choosing from a list of the site’s preexisting conversational snippets—safe but a bit stifling. Language and profanity filters at Club Penguin are so strict that one user complained of being blocked from the site for 24 hours after misspelling the breed of puppy his family had just bought—it was a Shih Tzu. Parents, after doing their due diligence, can generally rest easy: it may not be very difficult for adults to join many of these sites, but their online interaction with people they don’t know in the offline world is severely curtailed.

Tech: Social Networking for 9-Year Olds - Newsweek Technology - MSNBC.com

I think Anne/Larry from blogsafety based their article (which I linked from in the last post) on this piece from MSNBC.com.

I dig the fact they called out the “Members ca only chat by choosing from a list of the site’s preexisting conveersational snippets–safe but a bit stifling.” PREACH ON! That’s why we’re doing our best to keep our tiny, but AWESOME community happy with fully moderated everything– as close to live as possible.

"To find a friend one must close one eye; To keep him, two.”

-Norman Douglas

Social-Networking Traing Wheels
Actually, I think these sites may be teen-social-networking training wheels as much for parents as for their users (parents who don’t already have MySpace profiles, anyway). Newsweek leads with how Club Penguin (4 million visitors/month) kept a child, who was in the hospital for five months, connected with his then-distant friends. But this site for 8-to-14-year-olds, Newsweek says, is just the “tip of the iceberg” in the category targeting tween socializers. Some, such as ClubPenguin.com, Whyville.net, Nicktropolis.com, Habbo Hotel, and Disney’s VMK are more like a kid version of Second Life, others – such as Tweenland.com and Imbee.com – are more in the MySpace or Xanga category (profile or blog creation + IM). “Most of these sites are remarkably safe,” Newsweek reports. “Still, experts warn against growing too complacent,” because site moderators probably can’t tell, for example, if a group of peers has decided to give a friend the cold shoulder offline and online - a form of social harassment or bullying.

BlogSafety Community: Social-networking training wheels …

Tis a shame that Tweenland.com bids us adieu today. Anthony Zinnanti, the rockstar who created tweenland, had really great intentions and worked hard for his communtiy. Best of luck, Tony!

I’ve got particular thoughts about most of these “teen socializing sites” they’ve mentioned. But I think I’ll hold my tongue for most (*cough* Whyville.com *cough*) :|. Nicktropolis could be fun, but it’s young and it-the-works. Imbee is an interesting place too. Very-family-friendly. Reminds me of facebook more than myspace. Strangely enough– I have a faux-credit card from Imbee and I get mail from them to my apartment. …ooookay?

I’d love to do some research with kids about their interest in the virtual worlds. VMK & Nicktropolis & Club Penguin have so many rules and barriers… and they’re not always well hidden. In Nictropolis, I couldn’t write the words “El Tigre“, which is their newest cartoon (the website is cute, fun, but very flash-heavy… prepare for stalling, just like the rest of nick.com). They use a predictive text dictionary which would continuously change “El Tigre” to “Elbow Tiger.” Frustrating. Although, I did have a GREAT conversation with a snowman. One-sided, naturally. I think next week I might do thorough run-downs on most of these kid social networking sites.

Stay tuned.

(Or check out my run-down of Disney’s Fairies website relaunch)

OH, Britney Spears, thanks for the laugh!

This was a gem at the office today. I suggest you check out the website for Britney’s Midnight Fantasty perfume.

One of the “latest” trends in online marketing is to have celebs from your favorite shows call your friends’ phone lines. How is this possible? Well, it’s all pre-recorded, and is more like a menu you personalize for your friend. The first people I saw attempt this technique were none other than the collective genius behind NBC’s The Office. Two months ago the website gave you a chance to have Dwight Shrute call your friends’ number and leave a wacky message. I LOVED this. (who also has his own blog. It hasn’t been updated in the new year, but it’s still work a giggle). That website is STACKED with golden egg goodies (Scrantonocity, anyone?).

Like a month after my obsession with Dwight’s phone calls, I recieved a message from Alec Baldwin. Who, I have come to realize, is brilliance incarnate. Check out NBC’s 30 Rock website, which as a show only gets better each episode. I love Thursday Night TV.

But Britney’s site? AHAHAHAHAHA. What a joke. It’s really sad to see what has happened to that child’s star. Implosion is on the horizon, me thinks. I digress. Anyway, so YOU can call your best “Hot Guy” or “Cool Friend” and tell them about your “Midnight Fantasy” which can include “Wicked Warriors” and his “Family Jewels” (yes, she totally said family jewels). It’s ri-donk-ulous.

My question is… did they MEAN it to be so creepy/lame/laugh-a-minute? Or was it supposed to be “sensual”? Ugh. I prefer thinking it was all an accident, and that my laughs are do to my awesome sense of humor.

Check it out. It’s worth a giggle.

Young Readers & Social Networking: Disney.com “Fairies” Relauch

Personalization was another big focus. By breaking down its audience, Disney felt it could better address the issue of being cool enough for all ages of would-be MySpacers as well as easier to navigate for parents. Mr. Yanover’s team organized the home page by subject for adults and by character for kids. They also created six categories covering preschool; boys; girls; older kids and teens; families; and older Disney fans.Clicking on the girls category, for instance, brings up a page populated with Disney Channel’s “Kim Possible,” “The Cheetah Girls” and “Hannah Montana” as well as images of Tinkerbell and a design-your-own fairy game.

Updated Disney.com Offers Networking for Kids - WSJ.com

Can I just say… I am VERY, VERY curious as to why NO ONE has taken the time to note the BRILLIANCE behind Disney.com’s Disney Fairy website?!!

Disney’s Fairies started as a book series (beginning with ‘Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg’) helmed by Gail Carson Levine, following the everyday life of Tinker Bell from J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. It’s a fun book series for Tink-lovers and basically anyone into fairies. There will always be the people frustrated by the manipulations of Tinker Bell & Disney, but alas, I’m not going to jump into that hornets nest. I rather just take them as the fun series they are. Not to mention I’m a HUGE fan of Gail Carson Levine (one of my writing heroes. Perhaps we’ll meet once a certain book series I’m working on sees the light of day)

Anyway– as the initial Disney’s Fairies website was you could go check out Tink & her new Pixie Hallow friends, which worked more like a electro-book, clicking on arrows as you would turning a page. It had some minor games, and some print outs– standard preschool/young El Ed website tools. Cute, colorful, basic. You could have traded it for Strawberry Shortcake’s site, which still retains that basic, so-so style (sorry S’berry, but once you & your budz changed your outfits to “modern” stylz, you jumped the shark and all 80’s loyalties flew out the window).

But then came THE RELAUNCH. Disney went all “2.0″ with themselves. Well… as 2.0 as a company that eats, breaths, and sleep’s itself can possibly go (p.s. Did I mention that we’re a Disney family that drove every year for 17 years during Xmas from Chicago to Florida? Yeah… We love our Disney). For the most part I explored the site and thought: eh, cool, sure, whatever. The update/relaunch was needed (that site became more complex than the Magic Kingdom’s map). Most of it was FAR TOO FLASH HEAVY (Check out “Meet the Robinsons” if you’re doubting me).

Tink’s updated website was AWESOME. The whole concept of SAFE, PRE-ARRANGED Social Networking for the youngin’s?! I mean, 5, 6, 7 year olds could navigate this like their own mini myspace!!!

I’ve been plagued with the concept of preschool online communities. What the hell would that look like? How smart is that? Is it possible? Or, do we have to go the parent-forum route that nickjr.com takes? I nearly wet my pants when I saw the approach Disney took with their Fairy property.

Okay. So you can make your OWN fairy. You choose a “type” (Water, Animal, Floral, Sky). You choose from like 20 head shapes/hair styles/eyes/smiles/noses/, hair colors galore, body sizes, outfits, outfit colors, etc. Sounds like a typical avatar thing, right? Everyone from cyworld to Foster’s Big Fat Awesome House Party is doing that these days. But Disney, with Uncle Scroog’s Large Banks of Gold Coins, can afford to take it one step easier. It’s so fluid, and individual. It is SOOO easy to make something that no one else has made yet. And the attention to detail? You can change the position of your fairy’s head, and when you do it, the hair swishes along, only to fall in its most nature place. AHHHH! It’s like a little girls dream come true. You position their joints, everything.

Should I wipe the happy drool from my face?

Okay, so here’s the social networking part. Once you’ve made your fairy and you’ve designed your house (which we’ve seen in so many situations before), you house becomes your MYSPACE-ESQUE page. Yep. You’re assigned a particular & individual address in Pixie Hollow, complete with neighbors made by other kids. Go ahead and one of the twenty-thirty pre-written messages. The cookies in your computer will do the magic, attaching your fairy’s name to your message. You can choose one of 20-some quizzes for surfing neighbors to play, same with poles.

Disney really thought of EVERYTHING. Not just everything– but so many options, that every page is different. Little girls can get the same effect of social networking– like online communties with safe training wheels.

If you have any interest in the pattern & future of social networking for various ages, I truly suggest you check out Disney’s Fairies website, make your own fairy, and put your fairy page together. It’s glorious.

Part 2: Nick.com, MeTv, and the Future

I realize that I didn’t really explain what “ME:TV” was in my last post about it…

The website describes it as this:

 

Nickelodeon’s “Me:TV” is the brand-new destination for everything YOU!

Live on Nick TV weekdays from 5-7 PM/4-6c, “ME:TV” put YOU in control. Two hosts, Alex & Jordan, will guide you through two hours of your favorite Nick shows while showing off the stuff YOU create!
That means YOUR videos uploaded on TurboNick, YOUR Mash-Ups, Your original music… If you made it, we’ll show it!
Plus, if you can’t join us live in person in NYC, you can join us live on a web cam from your own home! Click around to find out how to be a part of “Me:TV” every day, because there’s no “ME:TV” without YOU!

Basically, “ME:TV” is like a TV program broken up into segments that are placed before, during, and after regularly scheduled cartoon line-ups and almost always sandwich (or bookend, if you prefer) commercial breaks. “ME:TV” acts like a “host” to a selected line-up of shows.

What “ME:TV” is designed to do is give viewers a voice. Not just the viewers in the audience, and not just viewers outside the studio– but viewers from home. The mass public. It’s giving kids their “Fifteen minutes of fame”

“ME:TV” has it set up so you can submit homemade videos of yourself to be aired, you can contribute to their online forum and have your responses read on air, or even be selected for their “Web Wall”– where kids with webcams get to wave in the background as the hosts of “ME:TV” talk. Sometimes games (like they had on Slime Time Live) are played with the webcam kids, or kids in the audience. They have an open call for audience members willing to travel to New York to sit in on the show. Only the kiddies though (they’ve thwarted me again).

It all sounds amazing from a kid-fan perspective. Again, my question remains… will this set up last, or get boring (it seems as though it might get more tedious than America’s Funniest Home Videos… oo diss! sorry)??? Or, will the hosts/show set-up/Set design get a little more “Nick-i-fied” (I’d like to see more colors, some slime, and some good ole kid goofiness added) so it has long-lasting flair???

The more I think about it– the more I would like to see explosions of fun worked in… and not just “Look, it’s Martha, she’s waving on that wall from her webcam” or “Look, it’s a video of Danny doing something funny with a pineapple slice on his nose as he plays his favorite song on the piano” Sure it’s worth a chuckle now… but will it be worth a chuckle in a month of seeing the same stuff? Ya know? Surpise us, Nickelodeon! That’s why we love you! That’s why I’m in my late 20’s and still an uber-guber fan!

It’s a great idea with great potential. It’s why the Bozo show stayed on so darn long. (By the way, my sister was on the Grand Prize game. No matter what Cookie said at the time– their life time supply of Big League Chew was not a life time supply, and was actually something you could get at Sam’s Club. Bummer.).

Most of this appears in the comment section of my last “ME:TV” post. I apologize for those double readers. I thought it deserved a little more explanation. I, for one, am VERY excited to see what this show brings about for the future. Let’s just hope its not more Britney “Was too young for that much stardom and now is going crazy” Spears. Seems a bit Drew Barrymore-circa-late-90’s for me, except worse (with the tater tots involved). That’s another discussion for another time (How do we save our youth from entertainment over indulgence– stay tuned?)