Whyville – “Second Life” for kids

I am not too sure how long this 'Family 2.0' site has been around for, but it's population is over 1.7m!!! Not bad and as a parent, I have to say I love it. For those that have been and checked out "Second Life" (a virtual world), you will see that Whyville is a virtual world for kids. It has it's own island, bus, news, weather, currency… and involves parents and teachers at a fun and educational stand point. As kids use the educational games, they earn 'Whyville Clams'.

Well, I am sure what would be fun with the kids, is that they can talk to other 'Whyville Residents' (kids) from all over the world and see it in 'three dimension'…so it's imore than just chatting, I would say it's virtual travel…I wonder if I have earned enough clams (lol) to travel (lol).

Want to learn more about social software and education?

Derek over at 'Derek's Blog: Safe Social Software' is a kiwi (New Zealander) knee-deep in talking about social software, amongst talking about many Web 2.0 sites as well. I am compelled to read more and will, especially on the tech side of things, models, theories and methodologies of this powerful and very interesting subject. This blog focuses on "the use and impact on technology in education, and the future of education in general". Derek is also a Director of elearning at Core Education, a non-profit organization. It's great when you find another blogger into the same network as you, as well as Techcrunch leading the way as an innovator beacon…

I think soon, like the real world you, to participate, like commenting you may have to show your ID. Will that be via 'fingerprint' login from a database of fingerprints I wonder?? What do you think?
For your kids, all you need to do is read the 'Whyville – Chat Licence' and your away in 'Whyville land'

*Feel free to also let me know of other bloggers discussing the fundamentals and theories of this popular space of social software and Web/Family 2.0.

MyGoodFriends – Stay connected with friends and family

Mygoodfriends is another social networking site to keep in touch. Mygoodfriends look like they have some traction on this 'family 2.0' site. There is quite a list of groups on various topics as well as displayed advertising in 'good taste' spots and blogs are quite active.

Some comprehensive places on the site to jump in get see what's happening.

Some info on MyGoodFriends…

MyGoodFriends.com is a trusted network, where you decide who is in your circle of friends. You can read and send messages, post photos, collaborate in group discussions, schedule calendar events, keep a personal journal (blog), post classified ads, chat in real-time, create a private family area, plus many other features!

See; Mygoodfriends

Mommy Buzz

Mommybuzz has launched! You can go to the site and try it out for a free preview. I have signed up, and one of the things I like about this 'Mom Social Networking' site is that it includes "classifieds and moms clubs". Mommybuzz has some of the strappings of a 'Family 2.0' site. It has as a strawberry mix of 'how many people are (in degrees) away from you, blogs, IM Chat and social forums'. However, I was 'buzzed' that moms can connect and set up a real chapter in their local area to meet in real life. It's like a mish mash of Linkedin, Meetup and Myspace, similar to previous posts I profiled on – Gotkidsnetwork, Famoodle and also jumps into the mix of 'Mom' dedicated social networking sites, as Mother's Click, New Baby and Maya's Mom.

The internet population world wide is massive. I think there is plenty of room for all these sites. However, I believe the trick here is differentiation, execution. Focusing on the success factors at play, I think will be listening, attracting moms and keeping them.

(…sounds like what the goals would be for any business…)

In Web 2.0, all sites will have a community of conversation and interaction, so standing out will be the innovation for 'Family 2.0' and users will benefit a great deal from this. Just like myspace over friendster, myspace differentiated themselves by allowing users to customize their homepages and share music files.

What will be the 'chocolate sauce' for these sites as they grow and evolve? For me, I guess I love social networking and would have many accounts with 'Family 2.0' sites if they all had additional different reasons for going their to play.

Roundbook – Family and Friends 2.0

Now many social networking sites for families are starting to pop up fast in this 'family 2.0' space. Standing out from the crowds will be become very difficult, unless you innovate….even slightly. I had a chance to read the founder…Spencer's blog (that is as much as I know about him) and was refreshingly excited.

What is Roundbook?

Well, it has the basic feature set that any social networking site should or rather
must have.

• Blogs
• Upload photos
• See people in your network
• Abiity to report abuse

to name a few…I did also like having an address book and ability to list interests.

So what do I like about 'Roundbook' well, I am more so buzzed about what's coming up with more enhancements on the way.

1. Parent Controls with a designated owner (parent) moderates the invitations of friends but accepting or declining. Not bad! It happens in the real world anyway.

2. Designated helper – This is great when you are trying to manage the older less technical folks, like grandparents. From Spencer's blog…"Rather than owning the account administration, the helper can help manage another user's account. The example here is that my mom isn't too keen on how to invite family members,
so I can invite on her behalf from my account, rather than logging in to her account."

I like it, there is always a family member taking on this role and it makes the site useful for everyone who want the family member to help them (or rather do it for them).

So great that it will have a 'sprinkle of Ajax'…

"Ease of Use in Making Connections

3. User connections / Profile sharing – We are working on AJAX enabled sections that allow for easier social connections. A user will be able to search through their family and friends' networks to find other users to connect to. Users will be able to view each other's public profile, and decide from there if they wish to invite that person to join them."

4. Guest passes – You can invite non members to view your roundbook account.

So my thoughts on this are, would you be able to have this guest account for a certain period of time? Can you only show parts of the content in your Roundbook account?

I know for me I was finding it difficult to find a site on the web where I can just show a photo or album that I wanted a guest to gain access to, but not necessarily see all my other albums that I believed to be family and private.

Maybe there is a site out there? Let me know…

Look forward to seeing this live.

PS. In there also something unique in the pipline too?

emarketer – Moms Online: Parenting with Web 2.0

Again fantastic news for the "viability" of the Family 2.0 space and for parenting with Web 2.0.

This report explores the new opportunities available to moms online. The figure of 30 million is reported of US moms online and the trend of making more time for the internet to relax, share and make life easier is growing.

As a contributor to this report for Family 2.0, I was very excited to see the trends and stats reported in the emarketer report on Moms Online. Parenting with Web 2.0 does have a large potential audience, with the trends pointing to moms and families seeking a higher level of social networking and contribution, and sharing via community sites and blogs.

In addition, social networking has a very strong "word of mouth" characteristic, and moms love the freedom of expression these Web 2.0 sites offer. With this freedom, online moms also like intelligent and considerate marketing and this report highlights new expectations online moms have of marketers.

There has already been moves by major companies seeing the value of "word of mouth" and this new social web resurgence, of Web 2.0 is fuelling this trend. The US mom market itself is a 1.7 trillion dollar industry, and this article talks about just how "Moms are a hot demographic". It is only a matter of time that this market sees an avenue in social sites to voice their own thoughts on the items they buy.

Just in the Financial Times the other day, Proctor and Gamble are making a "radical" change into Marketing 2.0, the article "Word of Mouth is New Ads Message" shows how this new form of marketing has some credibility to it's radical nature. It's "reality focus groups on steroids".

After reading the emarketer report, and for someone involved in this space it did open my eyes to how the new social web and Family 2.0 can evolve into and if you are a marketer with a budget, for close to $700 this isn't bad for an instant snapshot into the industry.

Family 2.0 sites need to keep concentrating on listening to their members needs, be able to scale and demonstrate value to members, and the sponsors and advertisers keen to try "word of mouth" marketing will come.

For more info…

emarketer release and report : Moms Online: Parenting with Web 2.0

Inaugural Minti Mytes Pod Show!!! Social Networking for parents

Okay, I am also getting into the podcasting and interviewing arena. Phew! So I thought I'd go easy on myself and interview the CEO of Minti. He was great to interview (of course he is my business partner and husband) and I think I was okay interviewing him, with my flu (down under winter setting in here). I think my mouth was talking faster than my foggy brain, anyway here goes…{be kind}

I talk to the CEO of Minti, Clay Cook discussing social networking for parents and using Minti as one example of providing "user generated content' as well as a "social networking community" offering. We will start with the basics, talking about the features on the site and try and highlight the real "social" meaning Minti is trying to achieve.

I also think it apt to start the Minti Mytes Pod Show – Cool Tech Podcast for Parents: not only interviewing Minti members, but online and offline parents as well. Evangelizing where ever I can here at Talking Tech and around the blogosphere and media. Why?

Consider this latest emarketer release, which report I was previledged to contribute to, Moms Online: Parenting with Web 2.0 – there is a groundswelling and shift occuring in the moms online market as well as staggering figures and stats on this 1.7 trillion dollar US Mom market in general. Everything is on the up…except for a decline in 'familial' interests and is suggested in this report that Family 2.0 could be the offering that could potentially change this decline.

So for me, (I am a co-founder of Minti remember) I need to inform parents/moms of this space and profile what is available on the new web, that aims to make family lives easier…I and the Minti team are also working towards is spreading the message for Minti as well, in order to help parents solicit other parents advice in a unique and friendly way.

We may have made it too easy to understand Minti from a technology point of view, but that's for another podcast for the show…

Have a listen and I would appreciate any comments or feedback…

"Inaugural Minti Mytes Pod Show: Social Networking for Parents!!!"

Techcrunch on Imbee

Another update on Imbee…get with the story? click "initial profile on Imbee" it's a short read…

It was great today to check my netvibes and see Techcrunch talking about Imbee. More so, that I could get more info on the inner workings of the site. Then I found myself in the thick of the comments and realizing that the post had generated such debate on the viability of the site as well as the problem it attempts to solve, child safety. So I dived in…and this was my comment…(awaiting moderation)…

1. Rachel

   June 18th, 2006 at 7:48 am

   Do parents need help? I think so. Has anyone heard of the “Justin Berry” story? “Justin Berry was a 13-year-old honor student and class president … It began with a webcam that he had hooked up to his bedroom computer…” and was lured by predators over five years. I watched this on Orpah, and being in the tech industry was flabagasted and really effected by his story…to the point of not being a ‘lazy parent’ and vowing never to ever allow webcams or computers in any of my kids rooms. His mom was a counsellor for children who had been molested, it’s sad and so ironic.

   This may seem harsh. I would have allowed it before this episode, but I was in tears. Children are so innocent. I believe parents need to have allies in the school, police and community system, to take “stranger danger” to the tech level.

   My only son is not even two and I am thinking about it…only designated labs in the house for our kids and getting a gutsy crash course down the track on the networking administrator side of things and getting more involved in the set up we install in the house.

   Just the other day at myspace I had to report a member profile page, a supposed 14 yr old, with a rather disgusting cartoon avatar (frontal no clothes). I didn’t think a 14 year old girl would promote themselves in this way and I could only check her profile if I accepted friendship!!! After I reported this (as I thought it really strange that my myspace profile is all about Minti, a parents site!!) it seems predators don’t care. The site was taken down, before I could report it properly (ie. many steps involved to actually report this type of abuse on myspace) frustrating.

   So I get the intentions of Imbee and I think the US$6m will be going towards solving this very socially important problem (I hope), it could be very damaging if we don’t get it right. It won’t go away, and we can’t live in huts, it would be in a wireless hotspot anyway. I just hope that by providing an offering in this space to 8-14 year olds that Imbee also takes on a greater mission of pioneering a solution. I can think of plenty…set up a nation-wide/global education program for the broader community online and offline, as well as educating parents to have the technology smarts. Be the coffee to wake them up and not allow parents to resign themselves, because it is all too hard. You know, I read in the paper the other day, about a professor (and journo writing the piece) admitted to shouting up into her daughters room (a 12 year old) saying…"get off your computer and stop talking to predators through your webcam, just to get her annoyed and go off to bed in a huff…" If a professor is this lazy, what luck do the rest of us have, I wonder. It really doesn’t help reporting this without a solution…the article was also pitting Sarah Ferguson against Madonna…lazy versus nazi control.

   I just know I will have to keep on my toes, and I would most likely see no other option than to use Imbee, as well as non lazy parenting…

   Parents need to know…the Justin Berry story…
   http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=nation_world&id=4052580&ft=med

   and watch the oprah episode…
   http://www2.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200602/tows_past_20060215.jhtml

   Then decide about Imbee.

Update:
Myspace did email me back to inform me that the site had been promptly removed. Thank you!!!!

Also parents, check out the lastest safety news blog called "MySpace Tips for Parents" is has some informative content and reports on what strategies are being used by our community. Eg. National Awareness Campaign.

Family 2.0

I thought I would take a "pause" and mention something I am observing in the Family 2.0 space. There seems to be many offerings for families as well as moms. I wonder if there are any specifically for Dads? anyway….back to my observation…there seems to be an influx of new beta sites in this space popping up every week.

I ask, is this to fulfill a great need by families in the 'home' market? That currently families are just not getting and now starting to recieve? OR are we flooding the market with many similar offerings and failing to strive to offer something unique?

I am not sure.

It will be interesting to see how these sites scale and deliver meaningful experiences. All I can hope to do is inform the "home" market of useful technology applications and web-based social networking sites of "Family 2.0" and how it can help them.

I must say I am getting busier and busier…

…One thing I would like to hear, is from the members of these sites and how Family 2.0 has helped YOU?

SchoolParentNet – Building secure communities around our children

SchoolParentNet narrows in on the activities that make up a school and local community.

A offline school community is extremely beneficial and comforting for our children, as well as parents. Providing an online interactive community, I believe, is crucial in a child's life. Social skills I in my opinion are enhanced to a greater level. As well as allowing those children with different or non-traditional learning styles (ie. kinesthetic, internal, introvert thinker) are given a platform to become involved and share at a higher level. I do think that it teaches kids emotional intelligence.

SchoolParentNet aims to offer this as a secure community and starts with a central communication beacon, schools and teachers. I applaude the focus by SchoolParentNet in this area to connect parents, students and teachers in a collaborated and meaningful way, taking the current offline activities and transforming this online.

I also profiled "Chalksite – Expand your classroom" which looked at expanding the classroom further into an online offering encouraging a higher level of learning, collaboration and an informal connection with their teachers. Imagine one day being able to watch your class on maths that evening again to clarify concepts you wanted to understand a bit more..or record your french or japanese and send it to your teacher, receiving comments back before you attend your next french or japanese class.

Using technology to tap into higher learning is really coool. I only wish I was back at school – (just joking).

Exactly how the secure network works and any chocolate sauce (unique feature)? I would love to be able to sign in and give it a whirl, however I need to be part of a school and the site is only providing a US service at the moment, however how incredible if SchoolParentNet could open this out into a global offering and enable a school in Amercia to connect with a school in Africa. Now that would have such a higher global purpose.

I believe providing an online community that includes children, needs to be created with much thought, with a lot of stress testing done on the technology that makes the community secure. More importantly, test the human interaction and potential abuse of the site's technology and community.

On security I would also like to know how this works. All I can gleen from the site is…

The school also serves as a security screen. Network users are connected to a group where there is a high likelihood that others will know them. This ensures that the network can be self-monitored by users. We also enable school security codes, which can create an additional layer of validation. We support Public and Private K-12 schools as well as Pre-K child care centers and family child care programs across the U.S

Great mission, stay tuned to see how this concept of SchoolParentNet evolves.

Rachel Cook’s Talking Tech Family 2.0 – CNet: Introducing the ‘Family 2.0 sites’

Great news for the Family 2.0 space. Stephanie Olsen, a staff writer at CNET, talks about “A new generation of sites…taking a cue from the cutting-edge social networking sites” like myspace and Wikipedia.

I contacted Stephanie and informed her of my blog on Family 2.0, as well as information on Minti. I was interviewed along with a number of Family 2.0 founders (whom sites are profiled here at Talking Tech on Family 2.0), such as the JotSpot’s founder (and well known Excite co-founder) Joe Kraus…what makes me happy to envangelize this space is that social niche sites are applying new technology to help families (roughly 30 million moms online alone in the US) connect, share and manage life easier. Hopefully, increasing the unity and meaning of families in society.

Interacting with these sites may also aid in crossing generation gaps…as well as enriching the lives of kids and their interaction with their own family content. Potentially shaping their experiences online for parenthood in the future.

Press is helping to let families know what is available out there for them right now…

Where did the the term “Family 2.0″ come from? I stumbled across the thoughts of the name from Julie Leung’s Blog, called “Family 2.0” which I found in March after a search. Julie posted this back in October 05 after a Web 2.0 conference and I have just been able to ‘re-find’.

The name “Family 2.0” was coined by Ryan in a post here, there is also a great blog who’s entry page is a humourous pictorial play on the term “Family 2.0” (very funny, if you click on anywhere on the image it goes to Blog Outer Court’s tech blog) and it’s the top result in Google at the moment for Family 2.0. I felt that someone needed to profile these sites, so I started “Talking Tech on Family 2.0“.
Techcrunch also talked about the niche sites coming way back in March…Minti – Web 2.0 Niche stuff coming. Mike wasn’t too happy about our “walled garden”, but we knew how hot this space could potentially be and wanted to be the first parent-to-parent advice-opedia, so we launched with really bare bones. Shortly after we provided RSS and a bunch of other stuff. I was impressed (I would say that as co-founder of Minti) with our search technology in handling the download of “all” of Wikipeda in private alpha trials, if that is anything to go by?

Learn more on Web 2.0, here is a great (very funny) youtube video that has had over 71 million views..My Space on the Daily Show the Trendspotting segment, brought to The Daily Show by Comedy Central.

*Feel free to contact me or visit My Minti member page…

***Source for this article above was from this “Talking Tech on Family 2.0” blog.

Here come the ‘family 2.0′ sites
By Stefanie Olsen

Staff Writer, CNET News.com

ZDnet – Here come the ‘family 2.0′ sites.