Bolt Wants to be the New MySpace
Posted by anastasia on 03-06-2006The folks at Bolt sent me their press release late last week announcing the relaunch of Bolt.com as a social networking site for 18-34s. They have decided to separate teens and tweens out and "redirect" them to bolt2.com.
While I applaud the decision to separate teens/tweens and adults, it doesn't seem like it's quite working yet. I finally got around to checking out the new Bolt.com on Sunday and got an eyeful of a 13-year-old member in her "pornified" pose on their homepage in the "Photos" section (I'm kind of hoping they take it down and that you won't be able to find it soon and I'm not going to link directly to it b/c I don't want to give her any more attention).
In the video section on the homepage, I was treated to a strip tease from an anonymous young looking girl posted by a 17-year-old guy. I wondered if she knew this video was even posted.
I know that these images and videos are not the majority of what is on these sites. And I am a big fan of all the positives that can come out of young people connecting via social networks. Bolt's spokesperson pointed me to an example of a more typical Bolt.com user, and I do believe that most young people are not posting exhibitionistic sexual self portraiture. But guess what, some of them are. Some of them are teens, and some of them are evidently still on Bolt.com.
According to Bolt, "If we start putting an '18-or-over only' front door on the site, you know the teens will be coming in droves, but we’re directing them to a site that should appeal to them more. In fact, Bolt2.com's numbers are growing fantastically, competing very closely with nick.com, cartoonnetwork, and Disney."
Hmm…Here's the thing. With the "moral panic" brewing around MySpace and the mixing of teens and adults on social networking sites (I promise you, we'll see legislation proposed soon), maybe sites should be more explicit about being 18 or over, and in my opinion, much more proactive about screening and removing any photographs from minors in their underwear…If you can't afford photo screeners or software to at least try to prevent scantily clad teens or hard core images from appearing on your site (a quick surf through more Bolt photos turned up a bunch of real porn posted by a male member), have someone hand pick the photos and videos for your homepage. Put your best face forward. Set the tone for your community. Otherwise, you're inviting a world of pain given the climate right now (freaked out parents, teachers, administrators and now advertisers) around these sites.
To Bolt's credit, after our email exchange, they are taking the lead in trying to work with other popular social networking sites to discuss these issues.
Maybe MySpace will share its new screening software (last item on the page) with other sites if it actually works. From MediaLife Magazine: "The company will soon add technology to screen how its 60 million members use the site in order to prevent crime, MySpace.com's chief executive Chris DeWolfe said yesterday." Maybe Tagged.com will share it's methodology around its human screening of photos…I'll keep you posted.
In other teens and social networking news:
PBS's new blog MediaShift weighs in on whither MySpace (and quotes SXSW teen panelist Casey Lewis from Teen Fashionista!)
Robert Young at GigaOm says MyYearbook is the real "David" to Murdoch's MySpace Goliath
Update: Ypulse reader Nick points out that there is also a big banner ad for Bolt.com on Bolt2.
Another update: Bolt's CEO speaks to its "repositioning" in this Direct Marketing news interview.