Latest news for 033bc19607000692aaa18c546d64f726.js?ver=1714017745
As I was preparing my presentation for the conference mentioned in my previous post, I couldn't help but notice how much new activity there is in the kids' social networking world. As the researcher shared with me last month, social networking as a concept has always been available on the Internet. Even so, it seems to have some newer meaning in the context of an activity kids express interest in. Last year at this time, I was only familiar with maybe four sites for kids. Fast forward a year, and I am amazed at how many more companies are playing in this space, some of which have been around for years but are only now gaining visibility. Not all of these sites are of equal quality and 033bc19607000692aaa18c546d64f726.js?ver=1714017745, right or wrong in their approach, each has a different set of assumptions about how to engage children. Below is a list of the social networking websites I am aware of today. It is not a complete list. My definition of social networking sites is a little broad, but there's no denying the growth in this space.
Site | Launch | Site | Launch | Site | Launch |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apr 2007 | Jul 2001 | Apr 2006 | |||
Aug 2007 | Oct 2007 | Jun 2003 | |||
Sep 2006 | Nov 1999 | Apr 2005 | |||
Oct 2005 | Jan 2007 | Mar 1999 | |||
Jul 2007 | Oct 2007 | Dec 2006 | |||
Feb 2003 | Apr 2001 | May 2007 | |||
Aug 2000 | May 2002 | May 2007 | |||
Jun 2006 | Jan 2001 | - | - | ||
Aug 2004 | May 2004 | - | - |
- Don’t design by committee - Keep the integrity and the strength of your design strong by defining with small teams. Have anywhere from one to three strong visionaries of equal voice define the broad strokes of your product.
- Be open ended in your design - If you can avoid it, don’t force children to play in a specific way. Think how you can allow for multiple ways for children to interact and play within your environment.
- Think emotional connection - Offer activities or avatar characteristics that will create a sense of empathy with your user.
- Design for a very specific audience - Pick a specific age range, like 3 to 5 or 7 to 9. Then learn as much as you can about that audience, like its developmental strengths, play patterns, interests. Don't design a product with the intent of appealing to a large age range, like 3 to 300. Designing for a broad audience tends to have the outcome of appealing to no single group.
- Competing against a community vs. competing against yourself - I'm asked a lot about my thoughts related to leader boards, which are areas of gaming sites in which the top score places high on a list of other members of a community. While I understand the motivation of leader boards for certain audience segments as a motivator, a game mechanic like a leader board, can also turn away other audience types. There are some instances where leader boards can be used effectively, like in classroom vs. classroom competitions, but generally, I am opposed to using such features, especially when a desired outcome is informal learning.
- Text - I am continually surprised as to how often a web product designed for very young children doesn't take into consideration that their audience may consist of prereaders or emerging readers. Be thoughtful with your use of text and instructions. Consider visual, iconic, or audio instructions 033bc19607000692aaa18c546d64f726.js?ver=1714017745 as opposed to text with younger audience members.