'Hey you guys!' (PBS to bring "The Electric Company" back. Aw yeah. And in other TV news: "90210" officially picked up by The CW with Jennie Garth returning as the guidance counselor. ABC Family announces its line up -- Molly Ringwald's show [debuting July 1] gets a name: "The Secret Life of the American Teenager." Justin Timberlake is producing a game show called "The Phone" for MTV. And Sorpresa! launches a ugc effort for Hispanic kids plus the rest of last week's Younger Viewers ratings) (Reuters) (MediaWeek) (Media Life Magazine)

- Virtual worlds for preschoolers? (yep. And there's Doko, a new virtual world for tweens. Plus Fresbo World is making its virtual world portable via Facebook.) (News.com) (Derek Baird)

- Speaking of Facebook... (it's making user date portable, too. And shutting down "Networks" in favor of "Groups". Plus looks like teens cyberbullying school administrators is becoming viewed legally as defamation and teens should be careful to avoid predatory lenders advertising on the soc net) (MarketingVOX) (News.com) (ArsTechnica) (BBC)

- CollegeTube (colleges using YouTube to recruit new students. Plus fans of "Modern Love" in the New York Times, shouldn't miss the college essay winners. And ABC News opening campus bureaus - thanks Derek!) (Washington Post, reg. required) (New York Times, reg. required) (Yahoo! News)

- 'Hurt girls' (Times Sunday Mag cover story on the increased amount of injuries that goes with the increased amount of girls playing physical sports) (New York Times, reg. required)

- Canada searches for its own Miley Cyrus (with a reality show/competition) (Reuters)

- The RIAA: Legislate (vs. educate -- trying to pass state laws forcing campuses to crack down on piracy) (News.com)

P.S. I'm speaking in San Jose tomorrow than catching a red eye to Toronto to speak on a couple of panels at an nGenera event -- Casey and Alli will be posting for me through Thursday. Back on Friday!

Posted by anastasia

Ellegirl.com gutted (So sad. I thought they were doing ok. They laid off fashion editor Joyann King; senior editor Holly Seigal) (Paid Content)

- Dove fires back (says ads were not digitally altered, at least not "substantially") (AdAge.com, reg. required)

- Beyonce's creepy new kids' line (a little too adult for the Romper Room set. And Perez Hilton has a new fashion line, too) (Gawker)

- Grand Theft Childhood (reviewed by Ars Technica - in a nutshell: games don't make teens killers. Plus game sellers getting better at enforcing ratings, i.e. not selling M rated games to teens and tweens)

- Mobile social networking (is growing. Plus youth consume the most online video. And stats on the aging hip hop/urban youth market) (MarketingVOX) (MarketingCharts) (Media Post, reg. required)

- MySpace goes portable; let's users share (allowing you to import your data on lots of sites) (SFGate.com)

- You have to watch 'real' news (to get Jon Stewart....according to this think tank.) (AP)

- The greening of campus food (Plus Gradspot.com offers a free eBook on life after college.) (WireTap)

P.S. If any Ypulse readers attended the Joan Cooney Ganz Center Symposium today and would like to write a guest post summarizing -- let me know! They released two papers: The Power of Pow! Wham!: Children, Digital Media and Our Nation's Future and a policy brief from Dr. James Paul Gee. And more research on parents' perspectives on digital kids.

P.P.S. Here's another silly but fun Obama video for all you supporters out there. Have a great weekend!

Posted by anastasia

'Deathbowl to Downtown' (cool looking doc about the New York City skateboarding scene from the 70s 'till now - thanks Bill!)

- Grand Theft Auto biggest selling game... (ever. I get to hear it being played for the next few weeks in my living room) (Reuters)

- More 'advertainment' on MTV (the network will be creating more branded entertainment. Plus the nerds of "Superbad" rule the MTV Movie Award noms) (New York Times, reg. required) (Reuters)

- Turner's comedy site Super Deluxe (to be absorbed into Adult Swim...anyone heard much about Funny or Die lately?) (NewTeeVee)

- Tweens abandoning Miley? (maybe, but the ratings decline seems to have started before the Vanity Fair photos) (Gawker)

- Dove's 'real beauty' (not so real. Evidently the "real" looking women were airbrushed - big credibility blow) (AdAge.com, reg. required)

- School administrators concerned (about teens hopped up on energy drinks - thanks Andrea!) (The Moderate Voice)

- Fashionspace (social networking for fashionistas last year is evidently doing pretty well. And check out Coolspotters where you can find out how to dress like your favorite celeb. Plus Stardoll launches an app for girls to design their own virtual clothes) (Reuters) (Media Post, reg. required)

- If you love M.I.A.'s colorful videos (you'll probably love her new fashion line) (PSFK)

- Salvia madness (evidently kids' posting videos of themselves high on Salvia is helping to get the drug banned. Plus Facebook about to launch major new safety measures. And a new UK safety campaign for little kiddies online called Hector's World) (Gawker) (Tech Crunch) (BBC)

- Teen pregnancy prevention (goes viral - with a new campaign from our friends at Nextgreatthing.com)

- Totally wired youth activism (danah has the scoop and an essay in a new book focused on youth leveraging social media to organize)

Posted by anastasia

I wanted to let Ypulse readers know about a couple of great events happening -- one IRL (in real life) in the Bay Area and another streamed live online. First up is an event put on by SDForum, the leading Silicon Valley not-for-profit organization providing an unbiased source of information and insight to the technology community for the past 23 years. The SDForum has also been a valued partner of Ypulse in helping us promote our annual Mashup event. Next week (May 13) they will be hosting Teens Plugged In! Their Second Annual Teens in Technology Conference in San Jose. This conference really focuses on supporting teen entrepreneurs and seems incredibly cool. Highlights include:

- Profile in Entrepreneurship: Anshul Samar, Alchemist Empire, Inc.
- High School Panel
- Marketing to Teens: A View from the Tech Community
- What will Happen? Teens in the Workforce
- Profile in Entrepreneurship: Salina Truong, Gumball Capital
- Investing in Teens and Teen Products: What Does it Take to Succeed?
- What's Happening with Teen Entrepreneurs?
- Inspiring Teens in Technology and Entrepreneurship: What Non-Profits are Doing

Ypulse publisher Charles Pelton will be at the SDForum event -- silver hair, black Converse high tops. If you see him, say hello.

The other event is the live webcast tomorrow of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center Inaugural Symposium, Logging Into the Playground: How Digital Media Are Shaping Children's Learning. I was invited to attend, but am speaking at another event in San Jose on May 13th (which is why I won't be at the SDForum event) and then catching a Red Eye to Toronto (I'm tired just thinking about this). Didn't want to zig zag across the country. This event is packed with heavy hitters from industry, academia and the non-profit/foundation space. It is literally the embodiment of what I wrote about needing to happen in my BusinessWeek Online column a few months back. Check out their full agenda here (.pdf). Of course it starts streaming at 6 a.m. for us west coast folks (ouch). I hope they will put video up on YouTube later as well.

Posted by anastasia

Real Teen Secrets (another teen confession site -- with no moderation or resources)

- To stream (or not to stream? More discussion on The CW, "Gossip Girl" and cannibalizing TV. Plus Channel One goes digital) (AdAge.com, reg. required) (Media Post, reg. required)

- Jessica Biel (and her dad launch another cause oriented social networking site)

- More Miley redux (parents outraged, tweens don't care) (AdAge.com, reg. required)

- 'The Death of the Record Store' (new doc on the survival [or demise] indie record stores featuring Chris Frantz of the Talking Heads, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and Ian Mackaye of Fugazi) (WireTap)

- Seventeen music widgets (Hearst teams up with Jango to create co-branded celebrity music widgets)

- Drinking virtual Pepsi (appears to work, according to an MTV case study. Look for more integrated content on every conceivable digital platform aimed at teens) (AdWeek)

- The true story (of a bogus blog -- Coach sponsored a class project that backfired.) (AdWeek)

- Back to school May 1? (ok, I know this isn't the focus of this piece about Staples and DoSomething joining up for a cause marketing initiative, but they are launching their annual back to school campaign before school is even out) (PR Week)

- Slurpee rocks out (7 Eleven's classic drink sports Aerosmith on its cups in a Rockband Guitar Hero promotion)

- Grand Theft Childhood? (cool looking panel at Berkeley on violent video games - thanks Jennifer!)

- 37 percent of teens (texting while driving. Stop the insanity!)

- 'Thinspo' (is the search term to find pro-ana and mia stuff on sites like YouTube and Flickr. Sad.) (New York Times, reg. required)

- Identity theft increasing (on social networking sites where youth with no credit history are prime targets) (L.A. Times, reg. required)

- Global youth research (Next Great Thing keeps releasing more. Plus slides from Ypulse Mashup speaker Graham Brown/World Wireless Forum)

- Youth open to national service (according to new research...you just have to ask them - thanks Sheri!) (Washington Post, reg. required)

Posted by anastasia

Note from Anastasia: This is a short edition as I really do need to pack...

Nick Lachey returns to TV (will host the "High School Musical" reality show) (Entertainment Weekly)

- The CW scores a ratings victory (with the return of "Gossip Girl," but was it big enough to stop the streaming?) (MediaLife Magazine Younger Viewers ratings roundup)

- Tweens driving 'Idol' eliminations (theorizes this grumpy HuffPo blogger. Plus Reality Blurred reports that Carly thinks it was her singing "Jesus Christ Superstar" that upset Christians and sealed her fate)

- WeeMes get portable (letting its avatars travel with an open API. Plus there's now a "Blue Book" guide to virtual worlds!) (Mashable) (Association of Virtual Worlds via Izzy Neis)

- Congress may regulate teen 'boot camps' (good.) (AP)

- Group asks BK to pull 'Iron Man' toys (from kids' meals since the movie is rated PG-13) (MediaPost, reg. required)

- CNET on the MacArthur Forum (more coverage of Wednesday's event from Ypulse 2008 Mashup moderator Stefanie Olsen)

P.S. I want to apologize to newsletter readers for the grammatical errors in my post about teens and writing yesterday -- it's no excuse but rushing and not having an editor to backread my posts means sometimes they turn out that way. Funny that I sounded incoherent while writing about writing though. Also, you can find the report online here. I will be running an interview with the report's author Amanda Lenhart next week. Here's another take from Inside Higher Ed.

Posted by anastasia

Lauren Conrad joins College Tonight (as their official spokesperson)

- Wired weighs in (on The CW's "Gossip Girl" streaming decision)

- Nick's iCarly (number one in the UK. Plus "Juno" number one DVD - no surprise) (KidScreen) (Reuters)

- Gay teens kissing again (on "As The World Turns" luring teen viewers to CBS daytime) (Media Life Magazine)

- Spike Lee teams with Nokia (to "direct a short film comprising YouTube-style videos created by teenagers and adults using their mobile phones") (New York Times, reg. required)

- Blyk reaches 100k subscribers (in the UK - Blyk is one of the Ypulse 2008 Mashup keynotes!) (Cellular News)

- Experience Green (new green job/internship initiative for college students/grads...sponsored by Chevy [remember those ugc Chevy Tahoe ads?])

- Unilever rebrands Duran Duran's Rio for Gen Y (it's now sung by a Pussycat Doll to sell Caress) (MediaPost, reg. required)

- Scrapping abstinence only (I say scrap it and replace with comprehensive sex ed emphasizing abstaining) (WebMD)

P.S. I'm bummed that Carly got booted off "Idol." Do you think her husband's tattooed face influenced the voting? Also, I'm interviewed on YourBusinessChannel in a bunch of shows here. I realized I said Soulja Boy was from Memphis -- oops, he's actually from Mississippi.

Posted by anastasia

Note from Anastasia: Please note Ypulse's new assistant editor Casey's first post today as well as our ongoing Ypulse Books coverage from Alli (the Ypulse Books channel is coming soon).

Parents Television Council goes after 'Gossip Girl' (And although The CW is claiming a ratings victory after damming the stream online, the Alley Insider says "not so fast." And, of course, "Gossip Girl" fashion is becoming its own cottage industry. Speaking of, did anyone else notice MTV plugging fashions worn by "The Paper's" Andrea?) (MediaWeek) (New York Daily News)

- Tight times mean thrifty teens (when is comes to fashion) (USA Today)

- Disney to put 'Narnia' exclusives online (from the new flick "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian")

- 'Heroes' Hayden Panettiere goes 'Al Gore' (with a new documentary about the ocean) (Contact Music. Plus Greenpeace takes on Dove for destroying forests in "Onslaughter")

- Social shopping/networking for good (I'm intrigued by Fanista's social shopping for a cause model as well as Socialvibe's team with brands and donate to your charity models. Oh and here's the actual Piczo press release - blogged about their new channels yesterday in Essentials)

- Cellphones still banned (in NYC schools. Plus BK launches a "King" mobile game) (Textually) (Media Post, reg. required)

- Little League (gets its own video game)

- Mr. Youth releases a white paper (on "Consumer 2.0" - full disclosure: Mr. Youth is a Ypulse sponsor) (.pdf)

P.S. I received this email stating: "We're a bit perplexed at present because ComScore's data shows that MySpace and Facebook get more traffic from 9-11 year olds than Webkinz and Club Penguin do...." Waiting for the news story on this one...

Posted by anastasia

Or really, it's like the Disney roundup today. First up is the whole Miley Cyrus in her undies photo scandal (L.A. Times, reg. required). Is it her? Is it not her? We all know teens are literally documenting their lives and that sometimes these types of photos get out -- are Miley and Vanessa (Hudgens) any different? Um...yeah. They're Disney stars and role models for gazillions of tweens everywhere. I wonder if Disney will be running its own "what's appropriate to post" sessions for its talent soon...I'm waiting for the Jonas Brothers sex tape to surface...

In other Disney news, in a perfectly timed Earth Day announcement (New York Times, reg. required), the company said it will be producing nature docs. Plus The Guardian looks at Disney's attempt to reach tween boys and Portfolio looks at how "Mickey got his groove back."

It's Earth Day, which has evidently become a tween holiday. Tweens can plant trees in Dizzywood, get involved in Nick's Big Green Help, read an Earth Day themed issue of Kewl, a tween magazine I had never heard of before.

Barbie is attempting to turn around sagging sales by creating a premium offering of Barbiegirls.com.

Finally, the the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) just put out its own video game/internet safety guide for parents and is distributing it through PTA websites.

Posted by anastasia

'iCarly' star to record (Miranda Cosgrove has signed a deal with Columbia Records. Plus Disney Radio launches a mobile site to reach tweens) (press release) (MediaPost, reg. required)

- 'Baby fight club' (Channel 4 doc about kids' ultimate fighting) (via MTV Sticky)

- 'Gossip Girl's' genius (New York Magazine on how "Gossip Girl" is a new kind of hit. Problem is the network needs it to still be an old kind of hit. We'll find out if not being able to watch online helps or hurts ratings)

- Remember Corey? (the Australian MySpace party boy? He landed a role on "Big Brother" Down Under) (Daily Telegraph)

- Edelman goes Hollywood (yes, the PR firm, launches a competition to identify young filmmaking talent) (USA Today)

- Reaching young Latinos (means understanding "bi-dentity" -- brands that do? McDonald's, Pepsi, Univision and Rocawear) (BrandWeek)

- The Fashion-Y Blog (run by teen blogger Kori Perten, who was profiled in the Boston Globe Plus new research says "teenage girls who dress in their culture's traditional clothing may fare better mentally and emotionally than their peers who try to assimilate.") (Reuters)

- Volunteer vacations (teens traveling the world to do "good") (Washington Post, reg. required)

- What young Catholics want... (from the Pope) (Newsweek)

- MTV investigates (the Emo attacks in Mexico - with video interviews)

P.S. Thanks to the media broadcasting the cheerleader beatdown everywhere, we now have the first "copycat" case. (Jezebel)

Posted by anastasia