Do you know a young girl who’s in need of guidance? Thankfully, a new expert has arrived to fill their need: Elizabeth Berkley!That’s right the star of Saved By the Bell, but more importantly, Showgirls, has created a website dedicated to helping young girls through their formative years. It’s called Ask-Elizabeth.com. As Elizabeth explains on the too-cute site:
I wanted to create a safe place for you to feel
heard, to feel seen and to get the help you need to be and feel your
best. You are not alone… We are in this life together! There are
moments in life when we feel like we’re losing our way and Ask
Elizabeth is here to help you remember!
That’s right girls, Elizabeth wants you to “feel seen.” Good luck
with that. Unfortunately, the part of the site that actually answers
questions isn’t functional yet. But there’s plenty of Elizabeth’s
wisdom already floating around. In quote form. From Showgirls. What would happen if you answered little girl’s questions with Elizabeth’s lines from the film? Let’s find out….
Yes, I stopped my quote just before it got “good” (or good to anyone enjoying the snarkier, humor-filled Best Week Ever blog).
Okay… ignoring the whole Elizabeth “Jessie Spano is Showgirls” Berkley aspect (and that creepy heart picture from her bio above). Over all, the site is tweenish– relatively cute lay out (for that sort of diary-keeping, pink-loving girly girl) with chill music playing in the background. They did a descent job of identifying the target audience (the 12, 13 sweet, young-girl who looks up to pretty adults and wants to know all about forth-coming teenhood and all the juicy details therein). Thinking back– when I was a CIT (Counselor in Training) at Phantom Lake YMCA Camp (overnight/summer), I remember my Atlantis tent (girls aged 10, 11, 12) and they would have LOVED this site (oh the gobs of uncomfortable questions they tried to ask). Right up their ally. Needless to say– I’m totally weirded out by the uber-photo opt pictures on the front (especially “Dreamy Jessie Spano” picture above her bio).
I’m not sure what makes Elizabeth Berkley worthy of talking to teens, tweens, or ANYONE other than Mario Lopez and Mark Paul Gosler. Perhaps, if she feels the need to reach out to someone, she should look no further than ex-Bayside classmate Dustin “Screech the adult Jerk” Diamond (have you SEEN that guy on VH1’s “Celebrity Fit Club“? Uck! Poor Wisconsin).
In the future, it looks like the site is adding a chat/forum area (”7. Girl Talk”) and an expert advice column by female trainers, make-up artists, stylists, doctors, etc (6. Expert Advise). And the site has backing from the likes of Sanrio (perhaps they got style advise from Hello Kitty… by the looks of the web design, it makes sense. Who doesn’t love Hello Kitty? I almost bought a Hello Kitty Toilet Seat– why? Dunno. It was cute? Maybe I just have a really good sense of humor, lol.)
Anyway, I’ll be popping back to see the level at which they maintain the UGC & the moderation of comments, safety, etc.
I just don’t get why EBL would be the go-to girl for tween/teen expert advice. Oh the power of celebrity. Perhaps I’m hatin’ on Elizabeth “Showgirls” Berkley Lauren because I’m uber-jealous of her ability to have such a site. Could be. Or perhaps I can’t help but get the vision of her singing “I’m so excited” over and over while popping pills and having a nervous breakdown on Saved By the Bell. That was the single BEST episode of all time.
I plan on keeping an eye on this site. See what/if benefit actually comes out of it. Meantime, enjoy this Monday treat:
For years, I have struggled with enormous bouts of self-doubt. I think many or most people suffer from the same affliction. You know? That little voice in your head that says, “You don’t deserve this.” “Everyone is going to call you out for the idiot you are.” “You are so much plainer than all of the other girls here.” I remember sitting around with a group of grad students years ago, commiserating around this topic. Even though this group of brilliant Ph.D.’s felt the same nagging doubts and we all felt temporarily better that we weren’t alone, all of us returned to the outside world with the same self-loathing.
I don’t think it is the fear of failure that plagues most of us and holds us back from taking the kinds of risks we need to in order to achieve our goals, I truly think it is the fear of success that is our biggest stumbling block… [article continues]
Okay… so yeah, it’s totally off track from my usual musings, ramblings, and incoherent rants, but TOTALLY WORTH THE READ. So, please, if the aforementioned paragraphs sparks any interest– do check out Tara Hunt’s fun-tastical romp through the “Inner Gollum.”
Personally… yes, I do have an inner Gollum– chock full of impulsive explosions (part of being an Aries, or so I keep claiming). My problem is the “Eye of Mordor.” I’ve mentioned it in this blog before in regards to focus the world’s focus on kids, kids marketing, kids web, etc.
I have been the brunt of someone else’s “Eye of Mordor.” Typically there are good intentions involved (or that’s what I keep trying to remind myself)… but to the people who are on the receiving end of the “Eye of Mordor” those good intentions are mistaken for control, eager quick-fixes, and/or grasping-at-straws.
Anyway… enough Lord of the Rings references. It’s a good article, and full of advice for “making peace with your inner Gollum” Awesome Enjoy!
FLIPPING OUT: Flip.com has a long way to go before it catches up to MySpace, but the teen networking site Condé Nast launched in February is getting a following. The site gathered 288,000 unique visitors in March, according to comScore/MediaMetrix, up from 183,000 in its first month. That’s more than cosmogirl.com’s 281,000 unique visitors and teenvogue.com’s 101,000, but less than seventeen.com’s 745,000. MySpace.com saw 66 million unique visitors in March.The average age of Flip.com users is 17 and almost all of them are female. But they’re not all fashionistas from Manhattan. “Some of our deepest users are out in the heartland,” said Flip.com publisher Jane Grenier. “There’s a hunger for creative outlets in the heartland that this site hits spot on.”
When Flip.com first launched in Beta, I dove in head-first and did a short review based on initial thoughts. Well… it’s GREAT to see that Flip.com proved my worries wrong!
Basically, I adored the design and the concept… I just wasn’t sure how far girls would go to be involved. The flip books seemed to me to be a bit of work… either teen girls would take a juicy bite of it, or circle around nervously and decide it was too much effort.
I was starting to see more and more about flip.com in news and blogs and catch tidbits along the grapevine, so I hop, skipped, and jumped back into my original account to check it out. Flip.com looks like it’s got a really devoted community. That’s awesome!
As for their advertising technique– I dig it. It’s non-evasive, and I find myself interested in what they’ll show. It’s a great example for people looking to make click-through money on social networking services… offer ads that are aesthetically pleasing & entertaining for your audience. Coolio.
Though Flip.com limited its advertising to just five partners at its
launch, more are signing up. Nike, which was an advertiser during the
launch, will increase its presence on the site through the summer.
Gillette last week started advertising on the site, and Ugg will run in
August. Grenier also wants to expand the advertiser base beyond fashion
and beauty to automotive and electronics. “The kind of integrated
conversation that can happen on Flip.com can happen in any
[advertising] category. Getting her opinion set on a particular brand
or product is as important to a cell phone carrier [or] to an automaker
as it to a fashion brand,” said Grenier.
Because they stuck to their guns and only provided worthy/edgy advertisers… now people can see how great this worked– and they’ll have their pick of the litter when other advertisers come a’calling.
I know a lot of people are a bit mixed about advertising on sites like this to begin with… but, I mean, it can’t exist free without it. Flip.com does a great job monitoring their site & keeping hands on with their community. That takes a bit of paid effort.
If you’ve a teen girl who has creativity bubbling out of her– pass along flip.com. It deserves all the attention it can get.
A new survey from the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, The National Poll on Children’s Health, has found that US parents rate Internet Safety as being a more serious health threat to children than school violence, sexually transmitted diseases, abuse and neglect.Yes, the Internet.
No, I’m not kidding.
The survey found that Internet safety is a relatively new health concern amongst parents. Women were more likely to rate it as a big problem; 32% of women report Internet safety as a big problem compared with only 21% of men. Internet safety had no differences in proportion of concern by education status, income level or marital status.
You may well ask what this has to do with Web 2.0. The report notes: “state and federal legislators appear to have responded to public concerns about Internet safety for children, considering new legislation and issuing consumer alerts“. The ongoing campaign to whip up hysteria around the risks for children in social networking by some segments of the media is clearly working.
Ohhhh Tizzy Tizzy Tizzy. Yes, indeed– parents need to be concerned for their children on the web… just as they should be concerned when they drop their kids off at the mall to hang with their friends. Trouble lurks in many corners. Oh, how temptation killed the cat.
Okay… so in my thoughts, the whole “Internet = danger” problem should be handled three-fold. 1. Parents should always monitor their children somehow, someway. (All I can do is worry about the latchkey kids at home with the power of the world at their unmonitored fingertips). 2. Continuing education in classrooms. Any time a teacher has the opportunity to enlighten their students about the wonders and worries of the web, that would help. Same with training in computer classes– giving all sides of the issue (instead of telling “no no no” explain to the class “why why why” and “how how how” and so on…). 3. Online media outlets that cater to youth (whether they intend to or not) should be ever vigilant (where’s Mad-Eye Moody when you need him?) about their audience/community. Ex. Disney should probably do something about the fact that Xtreme Digital, their new platform service for tweens, is uncomfortably close to extreme digital, a porn site. Make it CRYSTAL clear who can/can’t be on a site, help to guarantee it, and then ensure as best you can that your young audience has no opportunity to be led astray through links or misspellings, etc.
Consumer alerts is an interesting option. Will they be posted above highways along with orange alerts and missing people? Will they run along the bottom of television programs? I guess I’m being slyly & snarky here (sorry if you didn’t pick it up). The Internet is global and HUGE. How can a government issued web-consumer department possibly cater to all the web-tastrophes of the world? Or will it be like the gov’s travel website with warnings for the latest? <- That’s actually an interesting idea. I have no idea how it would work though. Would websites that aren’t American have to answer to America’s mighty fist of web-justice? Can America acknowledge problems, give a massive verbal heads-up to its homeland consumers, and then do nothing about fixing the problem? That doesn’t really seem to be our way (sorry, a side political comment, won’t happen again). …I dunno. Perhaps Caru will be granted militant powers… like some sort of “Black Watch” (see Scotland’s history), hunting down all the consumer web-alerts and giving them the good ole “one-two judo CHOP!” Now I’m just being silly and probably WAAAAAAAYover thinking this (which seems to be a trend this weekend -personal note). But seriously– I can’t help but find myself muddled with questions and doubts.
Who knows… maybe the fact the government is taking interest in media responsibility & youth standardsonline (other than the legislation they’ve passed) and offering opportunities for a one-stop-shop for paranoid parents wanting to know the “truth” is a GOOD thing?! Several of usbloggers havedefinitely tried toprovide somesort of assistance.
More than anything… I find it interesting that parents are more concerned about something they provide (it’s not like every child is born with a computer… someone has to provide it, and someone has to pay for Internet– am I right?) over the problems kids can find themselves in– like sexual issues, violence, abuse. You don’t need accessories like a laptop & wireless to get abused. You don’t need a cell phone with Internet to get sexually transmitted diseases. You don’t need bluetooth to get beat up after school. Does that make any sense?
I’m not trivializing the problems with the Internet. Lord knows I spout on and on about it every day. I just can’t help but find it interesting that PARENTS are more fearful about the INTERNET– which they have some degree of responsibility & power over– then the trouble their children can get into on their own.
Agree? Disagree? Have a different point to make? Please don’t hesitate to make it.
John B. Horrigan’s analysis of America’s use of Web 2.0 and information and communications technology in the broader sense shows that whilst a reasonable number of Americans are embracing new technology and Web 2.0, a disturbing number are either not getting the message, or are choosing not to participate.
The study found that the Top 8% are young, ethnically diverse, and
mostly male (70%). The median age of the Top 8% is 28 with more than
half of them under the age of 30. The bottom 15% was not surprisingly
older, with a median age of 64 – and as a group reported the lowest
levels of household income. And yet this group isn’t entirely switched
off: 82% watch TV everyday and 76% have cable or satellite service, and
collectively had the highest levels of watching TV or listening to
radio of any group in the study; it’s just that there not using Web 2.0.
I wish they talked more about what “young” means… young can technically mean anyone under 82 (just ask my grandma).
Anyway, here’s a chart they had in that article. If you want more info about “Elite Tech Users” and “Omnivores” (<- that will eternally remind me of my College science class “The Biology of Dinosaurs” best class ever), I would suggest that you take a gander at both the study (linked above) and that article (also linked above).
There’s been plenty of talk over the years about how computers will replace textbooks in the classroom and how students will just look stuff up online instead of having to tote around books. A fair number of schools give students laptops, but now, some of those programs are being stopped because they’re not having any positive impact on students’ education. That’s not very hard to believe, since it sounds like many of the programs cited in the original article basically just threw laptops at students, and made very little effort to work them into the curriculum in a meaningful way. This point has been clear from the outset: simply giving kids computers (or people in developing nations, as with the $100 dollar OLPC) isn’t going to do much. Computers, internet access and other technologies should be seen as useful tools, not silver bullets for education. Making them available is too often seen as a quick fix by politicians and administrators, but not creating some sort of plan around them essentially ensures long-term failure once the shine of being oh-so-high-tech wears off.
The tips about child exploitation or child porn that the US’s CyberTipline receives 24/7 are acted on immediately.One of the Tipline’s analysts at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children looks at what comes in via the Web (at CyberTipline.com) or phone (via 800.843.567 and immediately looks at the threat level to a child. If it’s top-priority, the people behind the Tipline, the Center’s Exploited Child Unit, contact the parent immediately, do a search for the best help local to the case, and contact law enforcement in that jurisdiction and other relevant law enforcement agencies, including the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force if there is one in that state. “Since it started, the CyberTipline has received about 450,000 child sexual exploitation reports, about 400,000 of which involved possession, distribution and/or manufacture of child pornography,” reports the Visalia [Calif.] Times-Delta. It adds that, “during a typical week, the CyberTipline gets more than 1,000 child pornography reports. Not every tip involves illegal activity…. Some report adult pornography or simply offensive online content.
Enjoy!
and immediately looks at the threat level to a child. If it’s top-priority, the people behind the Tipline, the Center’s Exploited Child Unit, contact the parent immediately, do a search for the best help local to the case, and contact law enforcement in that jurisdiction and other relevant law enforcement agencies, including the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force if there is one in that state. “Since it started, the CyberTipline has received about 450,000 child sexual exploitation reports, about 400,000 of which involved possession, distribution and/or manufacture of child pornography,” reports the Visalia [Calif.] Times-Delta. It adds that, “during a typical week, the CyberTipline gets more than 1,000 child pornography reports. Not every tip involves illegal activity…. Some report adult pornography or simply offensive online content.