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After reading about the recent acquisition of social networking superstar , I started taking stock of other social networking sites available for kids. I have my long-term favorites like because of its educational mission, and because of their tangible toy / virtual world business model. But after digging through dozens of websites that claim to have a social networking component, I realize that many of these sites apply this term loosely. For example, if a website allows a user to play many different games and activities online, complete with a customized avatar, and allows a user the ability to see other user's avatars in games, without communication occuring between community members, does this constitute a social networking environment? If the communication occurs outside of a virtual world's website, in the form of an email to and from members, does this mean such a service has a social networking component? I assembled a list of kids' social networking websites I'm currently watching. Each site has a very defined method of communicating with its members. They include the following:
Site | Ages | Launched | Ads | Cost | How is it social? |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
7 - 12 | Apr 2007 | Yes* | Free / $60 | Filtered chat | |
7 - 14 | Oct 2005 | No | Free / $6 per month | Filtered chat | |
8 - 14 | Jun 2006 | No | Free | All correspondence can be parent approved | |
8 + | Nov 1999 | Yes | Free / $7. 99 per month | No chat / Filtered chat | |
6 - 14 | Jan 2007 | Yes | Free | Canned [033bc19607000692aaa18c546d64f726.js?ver=1713411114] chat / Filtered chat | |
Teen + | Jan 2001 | Yes | Free / $5 per month | Filtered chat | |
9 - 17 | May 2004 | Yes | Depends on items you buy | Filtered chat | |
8 - 13 | Jun 2003 | No | Free / $9. 95 per month | Canned chat | |
6 + | Apr 2005 | Yes* | $14 or $8 per doll | Canned chat | |
10 - 15 | Mar 1999 | No | Free | No chat / Filtered chat |
- Any site that includes ads and is marked with an asterisk ("*") means that this site has ads only related to the products this company offers (i. e. Webkinz ads are just for other Webkinz items).
- In terms of cost, most sites have a free to use or a monthly fee component. Sometimes these sites have two tiers of service where the paid service offers more bells and whistles. Sometimes a product needs to be purchased instead of paying a monthly subscription in order to reach the higher tiered service.
- How communication occurs with community members varies. "Canned chat" means users can communicate with each other through a short list of pre-approved words and phrases. Nothing else. (Click to see an example of ToonTown's canned chat in action, or for the history behind the development of this version of chat called "SpeedChat". ) "Filtered chat" relies on software tools to strip out bad words, names, locations, and inappropriate content. Many times a live monitor oversees all communication written back and forth to users, in addition to these software filtering tools. is unique in that any messages that are sent to your child have the option of being approved by the parent before being forwarded on.