Myspace + illegal underaged viewers = Marketing heaven?! Yikes.

Using MySpace To Get the Message

Networks from The CW to NBC reach teens by linking to the site’s huge numbers

By David Goetzl — Broadcasting & Cable, 4/16/2007

Last summer, Rick Haskins, executive VP of marketing and brand
strategy for The CW, was looking to generate fast, mass awareness for
the fledgling network. He realized that the heavily trafficked MySpace.com
had buzz worth tapping into—a notion that led to a deal giving The CW
near blanket coverage of the MySpace home page for its September launch
as part of an effort to build appeal among teens.

The CW is one among a slew of programmers lured in by the site’s staggering numbers. MySpace had 61.5 million unique visitors in January, according to comScore Media Metrix; in February, that number swelled to 64.4 million. With about 5 million of those users in the 12-17 demo—MySpace puts the average per-visit time for a teenage girl at 30 minutes—networks from ABC Family to NBC have hooked their sails to the site.  “It’s about getting people more involved with the content,” says Shelby Saville, senior VP at agency StarLink. “MySpace allows characters to come to life in a way that wasn’t possible before.”

Using MySpace To Get the Message - 4/16/2007 - Broadcasting & Cable

Um. Why hasn’t anyone talked about how wrong it is that U14-year-olds are being marketed to on a site they’re not allowed to sign up for legally?  Why does this article make it sound cool that this is happening?  Not cool, people, it’s NOT cool.

I don’t care if they’re not supposed to be there.  You’re still standing in a shady/sketchy/creepy alley offering lollipops and toys to any kid passing by… that’s wrong. WR-ONG. 

Teens teaching kids about the future online!

Middle and high school students teaching elementary level ones about online safety – simply because kids look up to teenagers so much. Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Steven Del Negro told Channel 9 News that there was growing demand from grade schools to present to students about online safety and there just weren’t enough officer-trainers to go around, so he found an alternative that was just as cool. “Del Negro said for the new program he had student teachers - a freshmen honors English class from Drury High School - work with him, prepping the presentation. It includes interactive activities on how to deal with online predators.”

BlogSafety Community: Older students help littler ones …

WHAT AN AWESOME IDEA!!! No, seriously– this is great!

Perhaps Dodgeball just lost?

So…. Alex and I quit Google on Friday.  It’s no real secret that Google wasn’t supporting dodgeball the way we expected. The whole experience was incredibly frustrating for us - especially as we couldn’t convince them that dodgeball was worth engineering resources, leaving us to watch as other startups got to innovate in the mobile + social space. And while it was a tough decision (and really disappointing) to walk away from dodgeball, I’m actually looking forward to getting to work on other projects again.

me + alex quit google. (dodgeball forever!!!!) on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Dodgeball was ahead of the game with the phone-stalking tech (as it gives me an ulcer).  Not so hot with the safety. Or was that Google’s fault?

Does this mean the end of Dodgeball? Will Google take the time to sort it out now that two mega-minds have left the fold?  Will Google get a Dodgeball clue and figure out how to make their site safe for U13 and perhaps play by the rules?

Tut tut, Google.

Nickelodeon’s ahead of the pack!

The top five shows among kids 2-5: 1. “The Backyardigans” (Nickelodeon, Friday 10:30 a.m.); 2. “Wonder Pets” (Nickelodeon, Friday 11 a.m.); 3. “Blue’s Clues” (Nickelodeon, Friday 10 a.m.); 4. “SpongeBob SquarePants” (Nickelodeon, Friday 2 p.m.); 5. “Dora the Explorer” (Nickelodeon, Friday 11:30 a.m.)

The top five shows among kids 6-11: 1. “Drake & Josh” (Nickelodeon, Saturday 9 p.m.); 2. “Naked Brothers Band” (Nickelodeon, Saturday 8:30 p.m.); 3. “Ned Declassified” (Nickelodeon, Saturday 9:30 p.m.); 4. “Ned Declassified” (Nickelodeon, Saturday 8 p.m.); 5. “Fairly Odd Parents” (Nickelodeon, Saturday 10 a.m.)

The top five shows among kids 9-14: 1. “Josh & Drake” (Nickelodeon, Saturday 9 p.m.); 2. “American Idol” (Fox, Wednesday 9 p.m.); 3. “Naked Brothers Band” (Nickelodeon, Saturday 8:30 p.m.); 4. “American Idol” (Fox, Tuesday 8 p.m.); 5. “Ned Declassified” (Nickelodeon, Saturday 9:30 p.m.)

Media Life Magazine

Rock on, “Josh & Drake”!! Schnieder’s Bakery makes popular muffins.  Personally– I don’t think Zoey101 made that list because it’s rarely on and the seasons are short.  It’s only on TeenNick– weekends, and loads of repeats.  Meh. 

“Naked Brothers Band” continues its goofiness– empowering pre-tweens (ooo pre-tweens!) and giving them acknowledgement and a feeling of “empowerment” ~ seriously.  Watch the show. They run around like goofy adults, in weird psuedo-adult situations (love triangles, addiction to milk/pop, etc)… all done tactfully.  They remind me A LOT of the Electric Mayhem (aka, the muppet band with animal as the drummer, Floyd, Janice, and Dr. Teeth).  Jim “The Master” Henson should be smiling over Alex and Nat where ever he may be…

“Ned’s Declassified” is one of my uber-favorites.  Answering the day-old problems of junior high kids?  The humor & heart of this show is fantastic.  I’m glad they are now airing it daily.  This could actually beat out J&D for my fave nick show.

“WONDER PETS!” Ahhh! Cutest preschool show on television. Period. The Christmas Special just knocked my socks off.  “I’ll never have christmas in my soul again” — Hilariously melodramatic.  If I ever start a family, I’m buying up ALL of the DVD’s for this show and making my kids watch them. 

I’m not sure how “accurate” this sampling of kids & shows is… simply because Disney is not mentioned. I know that “Hannah Montana” and “The Suite Life of Zach and Cody” kick major bootie when it comes to kids.  I find it puzzling that there is not one Disney show mentioned…  And where is Cartoon Network & it’s “Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends”?!  That show is wicked.

Teen Crunch: Ahead of the curve, or just recognizing the future?

TeenCrunch is the most effective interactive media platform for brand marketers to create media programs to reach teens online… crunching.

Teen Crunch

WOW. Isn’t THAT a statement and a half. Makes me want to put my knuckles on my hips and say, “Well… aren’t we a little sure of ourselves now.” Personally, I’m a “show first declare perfection later.” You know, a little thing called “proving your system works.” And not just tech-speaking… but whether or not it actually pulls in the audience successfully.

Basically it’s a single page with five silhouettes. You click on a silhouettes and it brings forth an teenish-individual with a bubble explanation of an “awesome” community to visit. Avatar communities, IM communities, etc. And by “awesome” I mean… awesome?

As for the design, yep… it’s simple. Five characters with colors splashed across the black backdrop… your yellow backdrop… or blue backdrop (ooo choices). At first I was “meh” about the five characters. Seemed a little to “cool TV-teen**” — like some executives picked the characters saying “multi-cultural and hip, if I were a teen, I’d like this” instead of just asking teens their design opinions. But then when I realized that all the communities were based on avatar worlds– it all clicked into space and I realized my opinion was wrong. Avatar teens are a bit anime and a bit imaginative. “If I were a cartoon avatar- I’d look cool if I looked like this.” So I’m guessing they nailed the character/silhouette designs. Nice.

I hate to be a downer, but this page seems useless to me. Might as well just save these five different communities to your favorites bar or something. Now if you could log into the page and have the same account linked to each community, treating it as a multi-platform “hub” –that would be cool. Otherwise, where’s the “effectiveness”? Seriously. It’s just a 2.0 advertisement. Straight up marketing. They managed to be ahead of the curve with their launch, but only in PR. Their multiplatform technique will be picked up by many other companies realizing the potential of team marketing to this click-click-ooo age group**.

** TV-teen = The trend for twenty-somethings to play a teen on TV. Making teens look older than they are… selling them their grown-up dreams. Less young/awkward, more edgy/hot.

**Click-click-ooo = Bored kids who follow the visual adventure, clicking one eye-catching add to the next. It’s web-ring 2.0. You like a topic/genre? Well, follow the little white rabbit from webpage to webpage, surfing and exploring, signing up and joining…

Violent games, kids, and the press?

Fewer Kids Buying Adult Games; But Don’t Expect The Press To Tell You That
from the say-what-now? dept

Matt writes in to point out that the FTC has released a study about the film and video game industry’s ability to self-regulate when it comes to minors purchasing adult content. The report shows a very positive trend, in the video game space, where the number of children buying “M” rated games has been cut in half since 2000.

Techdirt: Fewer Kids Buying Adult Games; But Don’t Expect The Press To Tell You That

I liked the title of that article.

And I like the content of that article (cut in half? SWEET!)

But I find the extremism of the news disheartening.