Togetherville

OK, they can type their own stuff but it needs to be approved. I think that's probably fine (they must be hiring a shitload of moderators though if they plan on this thing becoming at all popular...)

Sounds a little like a step to Wee World, which seems like a fine way to raise a budding little consumer (in all fairness to the Wee World moderators, I met a few of them at a social media event a few months ago and they were lovely people. Still, the site seems to be looking to monetize, well, everything.

Webkinz and Club Penguin have somewhat the same thing. Your pet can talk with the friends you make but you have to use pre-selected phrasing. I have just been letting my 10 yo's use e-mail. They swap e-mail addresses with their friends at school and e-mail each other.

I am a little leary of it Soz - mainly because of what you said, the security issue. I have to be honest - right now, I don't let them do anything on the computer unless I am in the den with them.

The e-mail thing will do for now.

Yep, I was thinking the same thing, that it's similar to what they had on Webkinz. (Past tense because she hasn't been on the site in over a year and I'm sure her account has closed.) She didn't like that much at all.

Good point about email.

She loves Facebook though and really wants an account -- this seems like a sort of Facebook lite.

Agreed about monetizing, Jes. Togetherville is ad-free for now anyway, that's one positive, but I don't like the hard sell on viewing stuff (movie trailers etc... the line between that and ads seems very fine).

I'm not even so sure it's a fine line, as getting people to view film trailers is a marketable commodity.

The line is superfine for sure, but it's opt-in -- you have to choose to watch the trailer (click here, then click there, etc.), it doesn't just play automatically.

A friend has signed up, I'll see what she thinks of it before doing anything.