Many parents concern about how their kids behave with each other online, and if they are interacting with strangers. Togetherville is a safe website for kids between 6- 10 years old. Kids can communicate online with other kids, using canned responses and parental participation. Togetherville restricts certain online activities, but the website does not make a child feel too restrained. For example, there aren't any places on the site where a child can enter free-form text. Instead, kids choose from several pre-set quips, including sayings that they or other kids submitted for approval. The quips can range from questions kids ask one another ("Who saw 'Avatar'?") to "I (heart) my family." And rather than directly sending friend requests to other kids, children first send a request to their parents, who give their consent and send the invitation to make the connection.I like this social network for my son because it is safe and the website has pre-set quips.
One drawback for this social network is; if an adult is not Facebook friends with another child's parent, the two children can't become friends on Togetherville.com. This is a big drawback for this website because I do not have Facebook account, and I do not have any plan to open one which means my son has to wait until Togetherville change their policy.
http://online.wsj.com/video/rex-on-techs-bragging-rights-among-rivals/5C787F7A-2BE0-4E7F-8C4A-673838C6F3B6.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_videomodule_5
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3 years ago
This really shows the great impact that social media networks have on people regardless of their age. It is the first time I hear about Togetherville.com but it seems to me that it will be a successful social network and a great place to advertise for kids. It is known that parents find it hard to say no to their kids. Hence, companies will take advantage of the exposure they can get for their products on Togetherville. I can see that for the moment it is a drawback that kids cannot connect unless their parents have Facebook account, but I'm pretty sure this will change soon. If you think about it, at the beginning Facebook only allowed registered students to join the network whereas now,everybody can join.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! The security feature Togetherville.com has that the parents of the children are Facebook friends first is for safety reasons and it is a good thing. It keeps predators from befriending children.
ReplyDeleteTogetherville has other great safety features like each new friend must be approved by the parent. I checked the website and it says that if you are not a facebook user, but want to use togetherville they will have that option available soon.
Nowadays, the Internet is teemed with a huge offer of social networks for all ages. However, internet can be a dangerous place to post personal information.
ReplyDeleteWhen creating a profile page on a social network, many people disregard possible security risks. The more personal and professional information, the easier becomes for a hacker to exploit that information to gain your trust.
Both, Facebook and Twitter, the biggest social network have already had breaches of security. Therefore, Be careful when sharing personal information, especially your kid´s info.
I really think this social network will be the ruin of personal relationships. I mean the real ones, not the virtual ones.
ReplyDeleteKids should not make friens by digiting some name of Togetherville...what is Togetherville?! Come on! children want to meet other children? Bring children to the park where they can meet and interact with other real little humans; organize parties for their birthdays; invite their friends home or make children attend team sports like soccer or volleyball or whatever activity force them to socialize.
I understand it is much easier to have children in front of a screen pushing some bottons than spend time with them. But my question is: are ten, twenty, forty hours a kid spend on a computer worth even 20 minutes he or she can spend with their mom or dad or with they "real" friends?
It is easy to guess what my answer is.
Although i agree that virtual relationships in this way will replace real ones if the child gets exposed to such networks at an early age, but this is the way it is nowadays, it is unavoidable that children would want to be online and have profiles and make friends, so it is better to be done this way with attention from the parents and well designed tools. This way they can learn that its is not correct to talk to strangers, or they should talk to their parents for guidance about online issues than dealing with such things alone
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of having a social network for kids. If I would have kids I would be very worried about what they use the Internet for. Nowadays, possibilities are endless. Therefore, parents should be extremely careful of the kind of information their children receive online. Safety measures should be taken at schools and at home to control the pages kids are visiting. Networks like this provide a space for kids to share information and interact safely. Parents can monitor their children and their interaction with others.
ReplyDeleteThis is another example of how the Internet is adapting to users' needs. There are many social networks for certaian groups depending on their unique characterisitcs.
I heard about Togetherville on NPR, and it's great to hear your opinion, Zahra. I was wondering what parents would think of it. In a way I think it's a good way to "train" kids to use social communities, something that they will almost inevitably become part of. On the other hand, I agree with some of the other posters that it gives them time to develop "virtual" friendships in instead of real ones, which is kind of sad. However, I think that it's time to face the fact that computer screen time will be a much bigger part of kids' lives now than before-- with learning, and socializing. It's better that parents are involved in this process and set limits like the way they do with TV. Michele Obama is dealing with these issues too! http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/michelle-obama-lays-down-tech-rules-daughters-allowed-limited-time-online-20100415-sfv8.html
ReplyDelete