If your child is out-growing
Club Penguin but still too young for MySpace,
imbee might be a way to bridge the gap. Billing itself as "the first social networking site for kids," imbee offers safe surfing options for the 8 - 14 crowd and a way for parents to keep an eye on their little social gadflies.
Signing up for a free account with imbee is a swift and straightforward process that requires a minimum of information. Kids must provide a parent's email address which, of course, is easy enough to circumvent but we appreciate the effort.
As a nice added touch, adults can set up their own parent account to access tools that will help them supervise their child's activities. To prove you're an adult, you'll need to either provide credit card information online, fax an information form to the company, or call customer service to provide an address and driver's license number. Although such measures may seem intrusive, it's probably enough to stave off nefarious adults or kids trying to game the system.
Once registered, kids can join groups, watch videos and listen to music, create a blog, upload photos, and send messages to other imbee members. Like similar social networking sites for kids, the more things they do on the site, the more virtual credits they rack up to spend in the virtual store.
Overall, imbee looks like it's shaping up to be a good -- and safe -- place for kids to hang out online. We like that parents can unobtrusively monitor their child's activity and also pre-approve blog posts, profile changes, and so on, if they are so inclined.
After spending some time touring the site, however, it does give off a slight "training wheels for My Space vibe." That's not necessarily a bad thing as long as kids are learning how to use the Internet and sites like this responsibly. We hope, though, that as kids become more accustomed to meeting other children online to play, they don't forget to, you know, go outside once in a while.
So, parents, what are your thoughts on social networking sites aimed at kids? Are they a great way to broaden your child's social circle or collateral damage for kids who already spend too much time online?
[Via
ParentDish]
Where do you go when you know your kids love to watch online video content, but you're worried about what they might be seeing on YouTube? Totlol is a community-moderated video site for 6 month to 6 year olds, and they're hoping you'll think of them when it comes to kid vids. The moderators seem to be doing a good job gathering an age-appropriate collection of YouTube videos, although a few grown-ups at Download Squad might lose some sleep over a certain terrifying singing gummy bear.
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