Starting today, I am going to start getting more use out of this experiment aka The Lair, by using it as an archive for all of my ongoing research. These constantly updated posts will be added to the Resources area of this blog. All of this information I found by scouring the web. Feel free to peruse and refer to collections, however if you use/quote my direct comments, please do the right thing and credit me. Big Brother will inevitably lead me to you and well, it could get awkward. Thanks. This entry is the beginning of ongoing efforts to track and predict the world of Tweens and their social networking habits.

Tween Social Networking: My Notes

April 1st. 2007 The two most popular virtual world/social networking sites for ages 6-15 right now seem to be Gaia Online and Club Penguin. Close runners up are Imbee and Webkinz. My Notes: Tweens and younger are learning their real world social skills increasingly through online interactions. Life's little lessons are taking on a whole new level of complexity unique to this generation. Questions: - How do parents instruct their children on chat etiquette, profile honesty/dishonesty, internet safety, and virtual worlds? - What specific social behaviors is a virtual world teaching?/tracking common behaviors Is the overemphasis of consumerism within these worlds going to harm children in the long run? - Do networking sites help or hurt a child's ability to build good relationships offline? The websites and descriptions provided below will be useful to track as part of xxxx’s overall redesign and in coming up with xxxx-unique/original site functionality. Club Penguin (Around since 2005) Website: http://www.clubpenguin.com/ Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_penguin Kids use animated penguins to wander through a snowy virtual world, playing games and winning "coins" which allow them to buy and furnish their very own igloos. It's also a social networking site, where kids can meet and talk to total strangers. Reviews: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/website-reviews/Club-Penguin.html Kid Review: Reviewer: carlrgore (9 years old), Date: April 12, 2007 I say: CP Reveiw... Club Penguin is the best multipalyer online! It's just so friendly they always got games palces everything! Gaia Online (Around since 2003) Website: http://www.gaiaonline.com/ Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_Online Community roleplaying site with anime, manga, and video game discussions as well as a links database and a fan-art gallery. This world has a plot that is illustrated through staff controlled comics and NPCs. (Like participating in an ongoing anime comic series). People mention it's similarity to Neopets (old school). Like in Virtual Laguna Beach, you can customize your own avatar and use virtual currency for many uses, as well as real money for special items. A user can really customize their avatar character with skin color, eye, hair, clothes, and poses. They have a forum system (collection of message boards) which give users the opportunity to post their ideas, engage in discussion, chat, or post nonsense. Gaians may roleplay in a storyline of their own, or interact with NPCs. Gaia is home to many main forums, which are further divided into subforums. Users' posts usually appear in a speech bubble next to the poster's avatar. They can also join and create guilds. Games - Within Gaia, there are around six games you can play where you can earn items as a reward. Navigating - There is a world map that depicts the various towns in Gaia, and contains links to forums, guilds, etc. Locations change according to time and season. Gaia Stats: http://www.big-boards.com/board/60/ Recent Gaia Reader reviews: http://blogs.ign.com/ChiBKey/2007/03/15/49369/ http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/www.gaiaonline.com/ A kid's post: punky-nicky•Mar 26, 12:13pm I LOVE this site. Itz 1 of the most addicting sites I have ever been on. It has lotz of game rooms. Lotz of different forums with LOTZ of topics. You can create ur own virual avatar with lotza clothing to choose from. You can create ur own virtual house. You can dress up your profile page. And sooooooooooooooooooo much more. You rarley get bored on this site!!!! I recommend this site 4 every1!!!! I got alot of my friends to join. P.S They have gained alot of cool features in the past 2 months, and now we have ages 12-24 on there.... Other Tween or younger Social Networking Sites Whyville.net Habbo Hotel Nicktropolis' Toontown Virtual Magic Kingdom Imbee Webkinz Girlsense Note: Most of the Disney and Nickelodeon sites don't let kids do what their older brothers and sisters are doing on Myspace.com and other social networks: blogging, downloading songs, sharing photos and watching music videos. Imbee, which launched last summer and is still in beta, boasts a "secure" network that lets kids do most of those activities--if not all of them now, it will offer them soon--in a private community, away from potential predators Tween Social Networking Links (ongoing): KidzBop - KIDZ BOP fans of all ages can find KIDZ BOP CDs, play interactive games, create custom web pages, and upload videos to share with friends and family. Industrious Kid - builds a family of Internet destinations for children between the ages of 8 and 14. http://www.industriouskid.com/ Creator of tween social network nabs Disney VC investment http://news.com.com/2061-12645_3-6170187.html Nickelodeon Launches Nicktropolis Web Playground (old but relevant) http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003538925 Puffle Kerfuffle http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.03/posts.html?pg=2 Your Igloo or Mine? Web sites like Club Penguin have introduced social networking to children. Welcome to MySpace in braces. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17266131/site/newsweek/ Searching for Sex in Club Penguin http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/12/playing-dirty-searching-for-sex-in-club-penguin/ Online, Club Penguin Beckons to Preteen Surfers http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6923823 BBC to launch second life for Kids http://www.marketingvox.com/archives/2007/01/23/bbc-to-launch-second-life-for-kids/ Online Tween Behavior-related Links Experts: Danah Boyd Doctoral candidate in the School of Information at the University of California at Berkeley studies of teen behavior online. Report: http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/node/70 Warren Nightingale media education specialist at the Media Awareness Network, a children and technology educational nonprofit in Canada. http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/index.cfm Interesting excerpt: ...For teenagers, the performance of a relationship has an additional axis. Many teens have little mobility or freedom to actually go on dates. Quite often, teenage relationships consist entirely of mediated conversations (phone, IM, MySpace), school interactions, and the discussion of the relationship amidst one's peers in both public and private settings. The rare opportunity to meet up with one's girlfriend/boyfriend is treasured and for many teens, it is worth risking getting into trouble just to be able to connect with that person in meatspace. While physical interactions are deeply desired, they are typically quite rare. Likewise, while the 1950s Hollywood image of teen dating involves soda shops, drive-in movie theaters, and other public encounters, this is not available to many teens. Although the mall and move theater are still desired outtings for teen couples, many have far greater access to networked publics like MySpace than they do to unmediated publics. Thus, it's natural that the primary plumage display takes place in these forums. Children's Technology Review Magazine http://www.childrenssoftware.com/ Teens break up in MySpace comments http://news.com.com/2061-12645_3-6171409.html Girls on Social Networking Sites http://www.more.com/more/story.jsp?catref=cat5370024&page=10&storyid=/templatedata/more/story/data/1150314440627.xml The MySpace Generation (from 2005 but interesting) http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_50/b3963001.htm How not to launch a social network http://www.churchofthecustomer.com/blog/2007/01/how_not_to_laun.html To launch and promote a social network using the tired tools of announcements and press releases is to not understand their people-are-the-message subtext. 04/04/07 - BD VP for NYC's GirlSense Tween Social Network