The Power of Community

To say what happened today on Digg was a “user revolt” is an understatement. The Digg team deleted a story that linked to the decryption key for HD DVDs after receiving a take down demand and all hell broke loose. More stories appeared and were deleted, and users posting the stories were suspended.

That just got the Digg community fired up, and soon the entire Digg home page was filled with stories containing the decryption key. The users had taken control of the site, and unless Digg went into wholesale deletion mode and suspended a large portion of their users, there was absolutely nothing they could do to stop it.

…Just now, co-founder Kevin Rose posted yet again on the Digg blog, effectively capitulating to the mob’s demands: He says

But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading
thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear. You’d rather see Digg go
down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and
effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing
the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be.

If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying.

Until today, it seems, even Digg didn’t fully understand the power
of its community to determine what is “news.” I think the community
made their point crystal clear.

Digg Surrenders to Mob

Okay… so it’s not kid-oriented, but I’ve got to say ^ is simply amazing. A-Maze-Ing. I can’t help but hear a thousand voices joining together as they dished out one massive “Judo CHOP!” Hiiiiiiiiiiiiya big companies! The Audience… nah, the community has spoken. Digg– good on ya for stickin’ with your peeps.

technorati tags:digg

Even MORE on Zwinktopia

Zwinktopia Slides Younger Teens Into Their Virtual Playground

Call it a marketing hook, tween baiting, or young teen branding brilliance, Zwinktopia, the online virtual world that just launched Monday has leveraged their growth substantially by familiarizing kids with their avatar site Zwinky, first.
Kids have been creating customizable Zwinky identities to plop on their blogs, profiles, IM and chat sites representing themselves for quite some time…Now they have their own world to play in too.
According to TechCrunch, they’re launching at the peak of virtual world hype. 606Tech adds that Zwinky already has 20 million active members making it one of the largest launches ever. Hmn. Smart. A little TOO smart…Did they just get lucky or did they strategically plan this? Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

Shaping Youth » Zwinktopia Slides Younger Teens Into Their Virtual Playground

Amy over at Shaping Youth wrote up a GREAT piece about Zwinktopia, the new social networking site for teens.  She really dives in and explains the nitty gritty of it.  So, if you’re uber-interested in Zwinktopia but don’t have the time to roam around yourself– check out Amy’s blog. 

Okay, I have to admit it.  Zwinktopia is starting to make my hair stand on end.  Aside from its cleverness and cuteness… my concern directly relates to WHO is invited into Zwinktopia.

The toolbar download that is necessary to even begin the trip into Zwinky-ness (there is no direct route to Zwinktopia, you have to jump into Zwinky.com first) is not intended for anyone under 13.  Zoinks.  No pretweens or tweens invited (aka anyone under 13).  Poor little tater tots, left out of the party again.

Okay, okay… if Zwinktopia is for teens (not tweens or kids), I can see why they would forge forward as easily as possible for their appropriate community and not concern themselves with those non-13+ faces pressed against the windows peering in hungrily (i hope your visual is as funny as mine).  …But part of me still cringes.  It’s VERY young looking.  Very cutesy pie. 

Question: Is the temptation to play in Zwinktopia going to win over the “age barrier/restrictions”?

Kids & Rollercoasters.  “You have to be yay-big to ride this roller coaster.”  Kids wear thick soled shoes, stick napkins in their shoes, walk on tip toe… ANYTHING to save themselves from missing out on a cool ride– or looking lame when their friends get to go and they can’t.  They don’t think about the logistics of WHY they can’t ride the roller coaster (fear of falling out? doesn’t even cross their minds).  They just hear the word “can’t” and want to prove it wrong.

Here’s my other worry… I found this GREAT blog about Zwinktopia.  The blog offers a particularly revealing post that offers this:

There is no age verification process and Zwinktopia does not filter
sexually explicit comments. While some sites aimed at younger kids,
such as Disney’ s ToonTown and Ganz’ s Webkinz only let members
exchange canned messages, anything goes on Zwinktopia. On the site’ s
opening night, conversations on the virtual beach called “Splash” went
like this: “If u wanna hook up with me, say 123,” wrote one person.
“123″ says another. “Ok, let’ s kiss then.” Other members were swapping
their MySpace addresses and asking for e-mail addresses. There’s even a
video chat feature built-in that lets kids activate their webcams.

While
members can report offensive comments and the site keeps a log of all
chats, IAC is taking a hands-off approach to monitoring what goes on at
Zwinktopia. “It’ s going to be a learning process,” says Dorcas Casey,
IAC’s director of product strategy, when asked where the company draws
the line on inappropriate behavior. If Zwinktopia really hopes to
attract kids aged 13 and up without sending their parents into cardiac
arrest, it might want to speed that process up.

All I can do is furrow my brow and shake my head.  In this day and age– with all the safety-buzz and anti-myspace brigades… wouldn’t you think a site that has a potential draw from lying U13’s might have a bit more to say about safety than “It’s going ot be a learning process”?  Perhaps they have… perhaps they have tons of research now since the site has been open.  But I’m telling you– from a public perspective of someone just nibbling on the edges of this Zwinktopia-cookie… I am not really excited about even the prospect of young teens… 13, 14, 15 years of age swapping personal information.  But I’m also a safety zealot.  I do know that they keep transcipts of everything.  I suppose that’s a strong step in the right direction.  Time will tell… and perhaps they do indeed deserve the benefit of the doubt (as long as they stay stronger about their U13 restrictions).

They are very good at offering parental advice and safety tips (do kids really read these? Seriously, I don’t know).  They might not talk a lot about their own practicies, but they do make great points for parents like:

• Consider keeping the computer in a family area of your home and not
  in your child’s room so you can keep an eye on your child’s Internet
  use.

technorati tags:Zwinktopia, safety, youth, tweens