Social media full circle miracle

Fifteen years ago, when my career was just getting off the ground (read: I had no idea what I was doing) I somehow landed a job at a sexy Internet start up, one of those destined-for-greatness, ultimately positioned to fail ventures buoyed by Microsoft stock options and guys under 30 with Really Great Ideas. I was assigned to spearhead the editorial efforts of FreeZone.com, "the world's first safe online community for kids and teens." We had an online magazine. We had games. We had a homepage builder. And we had a monitored chat. This is all back in 1995 - 2000, which I guess makes me a sort of an Internet Grandma, but whatever. I loved my job at the time and was passionate about creating a safe and fun destination for kids all over the world. But then we got bought and moved everything to Chicago and then we got sold again and I jumped ship to go to work for Fox Kids (only to get sold to Disney two years later). And then, inevitably, there was this:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FREEZONE TO SAY FAREWELL
March 26, 2001

CHICAGO-- After five years of awards and accolades as the safest and most fun community for kids on the Internet, FreeZone.com (http://FreeZone.com) announced today that it is closing its doors. The final day of operation will be March 30, 2001.

I figured FreeZone and its mission were gone for good, along with the rest of the failed start ups of the 1990s. Maybe we were ahead of our time. Maybe we had the wrong business model. Maybe we just didn't "get it." But then I had other jobs - also in youth marketing and children's media - and found myself asking the same questions when ventures failed or changed direction. Is it possible to make money in the kid business and do the right thing at the same time? More importantly, do the children we're trying to serve even notice or care?

Last week, completely out of the blue, I received an e-mail, a social media full-circle moment if there ever was one:

Hello there,

I found your e-mail address on a couple of networking websites after looking up FreeZone (linkedin, scbwi), but this isn't a business related e-mail - instead I come to you just to send a simple thanks.

To give the creepiness of this e-mail some context, I was going through old boxes this weekend and came across a big one of letters when I was growing up and I had one from you. When you had your website, Freezone, operating I was a frequent (addicted is probably a better term) chatter there.

Even though it has been so many years since then, it really made an impact on me (both your letter, and my hours and hours of time in chat). I was a completely isolated kid and it was great to have a safe place to 'go'. I also met great people in the chat who I do continue to have periodic contact with after all these years. So, for whatever it may be worth to you now I wanted to extend again my thanks for really having an impact on who I am today even though we don't even know each other. I'm working towards doing things in my own career that I can only hope make the same kinds of difference.

All the best,
Crystal
(aka "Burn")

"Burn" and I have since corresponded via e-mail and we're now connected via the latest social media sites. She's 28!!! Which makes me feel very old - it's the same age that I was when I was running FreeZone. That time feels light years away yet fresh in my mind. Her note serves as a wonderful reminder that well-intentioned acts do make a difference, and that we have a tremendous responsibility as content providers and marketers in how we ultimately shape the lives of kids and teens who consume our products.

How is your children's media business impacting the lives of real kids? I'd love to hear your stories.

De-incentivizing socialization among children

"One of the things I've seen over the last decade is that we've become so successful at creating incentives for online socialization that I think we have unintentionally de-incentivized face-to-face socialization for kids."

Wow. Did he just say that? Yes. In today's Seattle Times. Meet Jordan Weisman, CEO and founder of Smith & Tinker, creator of the interactive Nanovor game primarily targeted to young boys which includes the accompanying offline Nanoscope(tm).

Weisman goes onto say "kids are still human so they still desperately want to be in the room with the other 10 year-old. They just don't know what to do when they get there."

Excuse me? Are you trying to tell us that 10 year old children don't know how to interact with each other? And that your products are part of that solution? Apparently so. This is what the Smith & Tinker homepage has to say:

Reinventing play for the connected generation

We see a future in which unconnected products like toys, games, books and movies will not be able to compete with the dynamic and exciting world of the internet.

Maybe I'm the only one raising her eyebrows at this. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks that an offline children's brand is still a thing to behold and that online brands depend upon offline marketing and distribution channels just as much as offline brands need online marketing.

It also begs the question: whether you have an offline brand or an online brand or something that falls somewhere in between, what are you doing to promote face-to-face socialization among children?

The lure of cheap online advertising, the new economy... and you

Do you want the good news first, or the bad news? It all depends on which side of the advertising coin you fall on...

Oh, all right, I'll give you the good news first: online advertising is becoming cheaper than ever. According to a recent Business Week article, Ad networks (the ones that buy space on lots of little sites as opposed to a few large ones) are transforming the industry in such a way that many big, traditional advertisers are choosing to shift their budgets.

"Several industry sources estimate that, out of the $8 billion advertisers spent on display ads last year, 70% went directly to Web sites and 30% to ad networks. This year, based on spending shifts in the past month or so, they project the mix could move to 50-50."

What does this mean? First, advertising is a lot less expensive (as low as $2 per 1,000 views as opposed to $40 per CPM) and second, your ads can be viewed by a whole host of target audiences and sub-targets that you might not ordinarily reach.

The bad news? If you're a content provider, times are tough. The whole industry is changing and it would be very difficult, if not impossible for a media outlet to survive on a diet of advertising dollars alone. But I bet you knew that already. Aside from the major kids entertainment players who still churn out original content on a regular basis (i.e. Disney, Nickelodeon, PBSKids, KOL, Discovery) nearly everyone else has shifted to a virtual world, gaming, retail or software-based business model.

The other bad news? If you are advertising to kids or their parents, your ads could show up on sites that --shall we say --aren't exactly in line with your brand. And you might not even know about it.

My advice? It all depends on your brand. What are you advertising? Who are you trying to reach? If kids are your primary target, you might be better off spending your precious ad dollars somewhere else (even if the CPM is higher) for no other reason than to preserve your brand's integrity. However, if the parent audience is the one you seek, go for it. Moms and Dads surf the net constantly, they've completely taken over Facebook, and the Mommy blogging community is growing about as fast as these ad networks are growing rich.

Kids Online Safety Resources

This past Friday a group of kids industry experts got together for a monthly conference call. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend, but I did think that the follow up lists of internet safety resources was really worth sharing. Here goes:

From Melissa at kids online playground Dizzywood.com:

NetSmartz - http://www.netsmartz.org/index.aspx - offers Internet safety videos, presentations, activity cards and lesson plans, including cyberbullying "real-life stories"

Adina's Deck - http://www.adinasdeck.com/ - videos and worksheets on cyberbullying; you can also book an assembly with the cast and crew

iSafe - http://www.isafe.org/ - training curriculum on Internet safety, including cyberbullying; also offers iMentor program for students to educate their peers on the topic

Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use (CSRIU) - http://www.cyberbully.org/ - tips for parents and educators, including worksheets for students

Cyberbullying.us - http://www.cyberbullying.us/resources.php - primarily research on cyberbullying; also includes some activities to engage youth in discussions about the topic

Digizen - http://www.digizen.org/ - UK-based organization offering classroom resources, including a cyberbullying film, teacher's guide and lesson plan

From Amy at Shaping Youth:

I'd add the Ad Council/Nat'l Crime Prevention PSAs which are good teaching tools on cyberbullying prevention and imposter profiling: http://www.adcouncil.org/default.aspx?id=42
From a 16-yr. old boy's firstperson experience: this fellow in Australia had much to say: http://thewoodverdict.blogspot.com/2008/04/tom-woods-complete-guide-to-stopping.html

And on the Megan Meier/Lori Drew MySpace mom indictment: Andy Carvin (pbs teachers) wrote a good post bringing up 'terms of service' issues here: http://www.pbs.org/teachers/learning.now/2008/05/indictments_handed_down_in_the.html

Finally, here are a few of my own "link-laden" posts to cyberbullying resources/prevention/info, including the Harris Interactive poll/pdf, stats, to add to Melissa's starter list! http://www.shapingyouth.org/blog/?p=423 and http://www.shapingyouth.org/blog/?p=395

p.s. Of course, for real-time forums/w/pragmatic peeks at kids' foibles: Anne Collier's ConnectSafely is always insightful/pragmatic (but she's on this list so that's a given) and her NetFamily News is a must read...For tween books/fiction novels on the subject (informal experiential learning akin to Adina's Deck) here's a recent book out too: http://www.amazon.com/Truth-About-Truman-School/dp/0807580953/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206203777&sr=8-1

From Dave at G2 Strategic Services:

The following link contains very relevant content for parents.
http://look-both-ways.com/stayingsafe/protectingkids.htm

We also just launched a new community site that she/he can join.
http://www.ilookbothways.com/

Feel free to share any more links you may have.