Redmond Report: Zoodaloo, Cellphones Are The New Bicycles
Posted by anastasia on 09-18-2007
I'm at Microsoft's Social Computing Symposium and while the talks have all been interesting, I've had the best conversations with people informally. I found a couple of other kindred spirits with a shared love of pop culture and had some great conversations about youth marketing: (Is Axe the new Drakkar Noir?), the dearth of movies about teen girls' sexuality (I was reminded that "Little Darlings" was a teen movie about girls wanting to "lose it" told from a girl's perspective), and the state of the music industry — I learned about a site hooking up musicians with people who wanted to host a concert at their house (no paying the bar!) Update: It turns out the site I was told about was Concerts In Your Home (there's more than one!).
I did hear a presentation from Sean Kelly yesterday about a new virtual world for kids set to launch in October called Zoodaloo. I have to say it looked pretty cool — the characters were cartoon-like and based on animals with a kind of Disney feel to them (really well drawn). They've been doing lots of testing of the site with kids and learned:
- Animal avatars are the most popular with children (Club Penguin, NeoPets, Webkinz would confirm this)
- Kids told them they wanted more control over their character (than they experience on other sites)
- Kids want to feel like all the things in the world are interactive and want to play with them
- Boys are all about exploring the world
- Girls want to decorate and socialize
I also learned that the majority of kids who blog about stuff like Club Penguin cheats are doing it on WordPress.
Fiona Romeo talked about how in many ways cell phones are the new bicycles — at least for kids in the UK. In a time where kids and teens are so structured, monitored and "protected" from everything, cell phones are technology where youth tend to be "monitored from a distance" and where privacy is basically respected (parents don't listen in on cell phones). There isn't the same sort of hovering that happens around computers and phones are viewed as a young person's personal property. Not that parents aren't involved in their purchase or use (especially when the bill comes), but that contrary to the notion that this technology is tethering youth to their parents even more, she was saying that it was a way young people were being more freedom to roam (as long as they check in).
September 18th, 2007 at 10:37 am
Odd that you say this about wordpress, Anastasia!!
I've been dabbling with the idea of covering wordpress & cheats. I've two (apparently) high ranking blog posts about penguin cheats & barbiegirls– since kids LOVE to google stuff (and web addresses aren't always word-for-word with product, DXD & barbiegirls and bebratz for example)… I get kids brrreeeeezing into my blog scoping out cheats all the time.
I delete most of them, and sometimes (if time is on my side) i'll edit & block out info.
It's AMAZING to see how many kids are willing to put their username & password into the comments section of my blog post. Naturally– moderator skillz kick in and I edit/delete– but seriously… it's maddening.
Check it out:
http://izzyneis.wordpress.com/2007/03/08/club-penguin-penguins-like-to-cheat/
September 18th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Have you heard of this movie, Juno? http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/09/14/juno-movie-trailer/
A comedy written by a woman (!!) about a teenaged GIRL (!!!) who gets pregnant and deals with it. GIRL COMEDY! Yay!
September 23rd, 2007 at 6:36 am
Another interesting post, Anastasia. But I'm wondering if there was any way you could define Foe Romeo beyond her gender? Writing "A woman named Fiona Romeo" is not the most equitable way to describe someone who has much more to bring to online worlds than the fact that she is female. You didn't feel the need to define Sean Kelly as a man (I am assuming he is a he), so I'm not sure why you wouldn't describe Foe as something like: "Head of Digital Media at the National Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory." (taken from her bio on her blog), or something more current that would display the expert credentials she has in her field.
Keep up the great writing on here - you're really plugged in, which is fantastic.
September 23rd, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Hi "Just Wondering." Thanks for your comments! I actually had her nickname "Foe" at first, which is why I said a woman named…Since Foe could easily be either gender. I later changed it to add her full name but didn't change the whole sentence. I also link to her site where readers can learn more about her bio, experience, etc. You put a lot more thought into interpreting those few words "a woman named" than I did in writing them ;-) That said, I've removed "a woman named" and just say Fiona Romeo.