Social Media Training for…Kindergartners?
Togetherville is a new online social network aimed at kids aged 6 to 10. The basic premise is that kids, with their parents’ help, can set up their own online neighborhood with friends and relatives and develop “a whole new set of skills to become responsible digital citizens.” Kids can post their own status from a pre-approved list created by the makers of Togetherville, buy digital gifts for their friends at the kid-friendly price of 25-50 cents, and use various online apps to create art, play games, watch videos, and send messages to their friends. Mom and dad can see everything that happens, and as members of their child’s community even have the dubious pleasure of tapping into the Hanna Montana and Justin Beiber videos, movie clips and other sponsored video content found throughout the site. It was the buzz in the agency last week, as various people weighed in on its value to parents, kids and marketers (eek!). The big question was this: Do kids really need a training ground for social networking?