Samantha's+'Tweens+Online'

I decided to research tween online users because as a generation that has grown up with the technology, they are more comfortable in utilizing their virtual communities in order to connect with each other. In searching for a tween-centric online community, I came across a blog that listed all of the top "worthy tween/kid communities". Many of these websites infuse the aspects of gaming with more chat-based communication. One website in particular that the blogger listed in her top 10 is sparktop.org.

Sparktop This website does not require that the site visitor join or log in to the website. However, in order to use all facets of it, one must either continue as a guest or create a username. If a child undert the age of 18 chooses to create a username, he must have a parent to verify that he is allowed to be using the site. So, not only does the child have to create a username, but the parent or guardian must create one as well. In addition, the parent must provide information such as home address and email address in order to allow her child to participate in the site. I attempted to sign up as myself, a 21 year old college student. But, after inputting my information, the site asked me if I was signing up as a parent in order to further sign up my child, or as a teacher vouching as a guardian for a young student. I clicked "teacher" and was again brought to the page where I was forced to input my home address and credit card information. So, I decided to continue on as as guest.

Sparktop, along with many of the other tween online communities, has a very complicated setup obviously geared towards this technologically savvy generation. The image above is a screen shot of the website's opening page, and as seen above, this page is very cluttered with options for the users. Each icon on the page's display is an option for the tween to interact with others or to play solo games. Much of what the site revolves around is helping with issues, but for oneself and for others. One option that a user can click on is an "ask the experts" discussion forum, where the user can ask a personal question to three older teens and see their responses in a video format. Or, if a tween is timid in expressing her own problems, she can choose from pre-set questions that may be applicable to her own life. The image above is the page in which users can ask any question to the expert of their choice. As shown, I have chosen to question Boone. This page is completely confidential although you do have to be logged in in order to ask a question. However, as seen above "Dr. Bart's" picture, the page still says "Join Sparktop". This is because I am currently signed in using a guest pass. The guest pass allows users to have full access to the site while remaining completely anonymous. As I previously mentioned, it is not necessary for one to ask a personal question in order to get expert advice, there is also a page where one can view the responses to other people's questions. In order to access this page, the user must click on the CD icon entitled "Studio 24/7 Singles". As seen in this screen shot, all three teen experts are displayed in a set up resembling a music studio or TV set. The picture of Boone is close up simply due to the timing of when the screen shot was taken, each expert's image is alternately animated. The three CD's at the bottom of the screen are the newest questions ask to the experts, the stack of the CD's to the right labeled "more" are other questions previously asked by users. When placing the mouse over any of the three "new" CDs, a written question will appear above it in a thought bubble. For example, when I placed my mouse over the CD on the left, a question asking "I'm worried my AD/HD pills will make me feel weird. What do I do?" appears above the CD. If I choose to listen to this response, I must select the question and then the expert that I would like to hear a response from. The response is shown in an animated video featuring the expert of my choice. The entire experience is extremely flashy and complicated. However, in searching around this website I have found that everything follows suit in being overly complicated and flashy. In addition, every other tween-based website I have looked at also feature a plethora of complex graphics with no direction of how to use the site. I believe that this is to appeal to this demographic that has constantly been bombarded with catchy images, leading many people to believe that we are breeding the new generations to be prone to AD/HD and ADD. In fact, sparktop has even added an AD/HD expert into their mix of experts because so many users ask questions in regards to their own AD/HD.

Along with the ability to ask questions to experts, users are encouraged to participate in message boards and other discussion forums in order to ask each other questions. At the top of the page is a button that reads "connect". One of the options in connecting is a message board that is divided into four topic areas, "Sparktop", "TV! Movies! Games! Music!", "Life... and STUFF", and "School". I clicked on "Life... and STUFF" and was brought to another page that listed more topic options. From this even longer list, I selected "Friends". In this category, there are many individual posts from users asking for advice from other tweens. I clicked on the first one which read "Help Me plz (ASAP)". Below "Cool2Cool"s question there are four responses from other users. Each offers a different perspective and response to "Cool"s problem. I chose to respond to this problem, and clicked "reply", in doing this I was asked if I wanted to reply by voice note or written note, I chose a written reply. When I clicked to send my reply, a message appeared saying that before anything can be posted, the sparktop team must check that it is appropriate to be displayed on the website.

Whyville

Whyville is a bit more community based than sparktop is. Before I could even create a username, I was prompted to create an avatar. Unlike Sparktop, Whyville did not require confirmation from a parent in order for an underaged child to join. In general the site was much more accessible to new users. I did not have to input any personal information other than my name and birthday, whereas on sparktop I was required to put in my address and credit card information. This site also has a much more comprehensive information page or "whyville basics". This page is arranged to simulate a village, complete with a tour guide to assist the user in navigating the site. The image above is taken from the instructions part of the site. Through my avatar (the girl in pigtails) I was able to ask questions to the tour guide. When I typed in my questions, the words would appear in a thought bubble above my avatar. After I was able to explore the facets of the website, I was taken to the main page. As this site seems to be have a large focus on the interpersonal aspects of virtual communities, I decided to try chatting as my first activity. However, in order to chat I was forced to take a test in order to receive my "chat license". The user must answer 7 safety questions before they can receive a chat license. This is to make sure that no one is going to give out personal information or get offended when others are rude to them on the site. Most questions were pretty self-explanatory, if another member asks for your phone number, you should report them, if they are rude to you then you should just block them. However, the first question I got wrong asked me what to do when someone says "a/s/l". My immediate reaction was to think of internet predators and creeps who hang out on gaming websites, so I responded to "block this person". I was surprised to find that the site encourages a truthful response to this question as long as the user does not give out any further information. After answering all seven questions, it became quite clear to me that the theme of these questions was to "never give any information about yourself that could allow another user to find you outside of whyville". I was happy to find that these questions are mandatory for all users to answer correctly before entering the chat section of whyville. In the image above, I gave an incorrect response so the site would not let me continue without figuring out what the right move would be in that situation. Obviously, the makers of this site are very concerned with the safety of it's users because the best answer was "911 report".

Once I passed the chat license test, I was allowed to enter one of the numerous chatrooms that whyville offers. These chatrooms are not typical text-based boxes, instead they consist of multiple users in one area communicating through their avatars. As I look at my computer screen I am completely overwhelmed by the chaos, yet none of the tweens seem to be confused in the slightest. They are all typing at an astonishing pace, which I find extremely difficult to follow as one thought bubble layers on top of another. On top of this, the users can move their avatars around the screen - just to add to this chaos. I attempted to talk to the other users, but no one was responding to me. It definitely seemed like everyone on this site was only interested in talking to the people that they already know. Most of them were "whispering" to another user, and others were simply speaking out to the people that they were obviously already friends with. When I tried to initiate conversations I got no responses, when I responded to what other people were saying I got no takers either. Most of the people who were not whispering were writing random lyrics from songs or repeatedly saying "type 123 if I'm hot". I didn't think it would be appropriate to respond to that, although it could have been the only way to have anyone talk to me.

In addition to the chat portion of the site, whyville had some other interesting aspects that were not included on sparktop. The money in whyville is called "clams", and allows you to buy new "face parts", clothing, and basically anything - including plane parts to build your own plane. I went into the "Style Studio" which held the description "give or get a makeover!". But, when I entered the room it told me that I was not allowed to give or get a makeover because I make less than 5 clams in salary. In order to build up a salary, a user must play games and therefore win clams. I decided to play the game "driving school". The instructions told me that depending on the amount of levels I completed, my salary would go up. After 8 levels I returned to the main page to find that my salary had not gone up and I actually had made no progress. I am very confused with this site, and as I had previously discussed for sparktop, I find that tween sites are much more difficult to navigate than any sites I use regularly. There are an infinite number of activities on this site - whether it is chatting, or playing games, or buying whatever it is your heard desires. And, on top of all of this, the whyville website treats itself as a live community - having whyville events, contests, and of course the local newspaper //Whyville Times//. I actually think that it would be a great website for a tween, it allows for copious amounts of exploration and fun, just requires a knowledge of navigating websites. Not to my surprise, none of the other users seemed to be having any trouble in using this site, which leads me to believe that it must be a generational gap. I have never considered myself old until trying to fit in on these websites that I am obviously not equipped to be dealing with.

When I logged back on the next day the site had updated to show my salary as "8 clams". I re-entered the "style studio" as I had seen other users talking about it in one of the chat rooms. After reading the directions, I clicked a price to offer my makeover at and then was brought to the stylists chair. The instructions to me to select a client (another user) by "whispering" to them and asking if they wanted me to make them over. Unfortunately, on whyville everything is based on pre-existing friends and relationships so no one came to my style chair. I returned to the main lobby and asked if anyone wanted a makeover from me, but no one responded. I have figured out that people mostly only respond to whispers, not open conversation. But, you can't whisper to someone unless you are "friends" with them. In the lobby I double clicked on another user and added her as a friend. The site automatically lets you add someone as a friend, they don't need to approve this. The image above is take from the style studio. I added the girl behind me "b1bby" as a friend. I still couldn't figure out how to whisper to her so I asked her out loud how to give or get a makeover, letting her know that was new the the site. She replied asking how many clams I had. When I let her know that my salary was 8 she said "sorry honey that's not enough", and started "whispering" to the girl next to her. After that I explored a few more shopping parts of the site but continued to run into the same problems.

My final analysis of whyville is that for a technologically savvy tween it is probably a great site to go on a chat with friends, play games, compete for the most clams. But, for a "newbie" it is easily to get lost in the many facets of this website, plus new participants are basically ignored and judged on the fact that they have little to no "friends" and not enough money to shop or create a status for themselves. I actually felt that this site facilitated the underlying fear in most tweens that they do not fit in. You need friends to play the games or chat, people are not interested in talking with anyone that they don't know - especially with a low number of hours and clams.

Nicktropolis.com

Nicktropolis is a little bit different than the other two sites because it stems from the nickelodeon television network. However, it has the same features as the other two sites including multiple chatrooms and games. And, like Whyville, Nicktropolis considers itself to be a virtual world for kids all over the country.The first thing I notice is that the top of the site is structured how any other TV network's site is - you have the ability to click through the different shows on nickelodeon. However, the main portion of the site closely resembles whyville in that it lists upcoming events, what is new on the site, the most popular chat rooms, and games. The aspects that more resemble sparktop are the message boards and blogs. At the bottom of the page is a safety section with different options for learning about the regulations on this site - ground rules, parents guide, safety guide, and chat & room settings. I clicked on the safety options and found that the site provides a very comprehensive safety guide. One thing that stood out to me was the feature allowing parents to create an account as a part of their child's account. This way it is not as if the parent is spying on the child, both parties are aware of what the other is doing on the website. After signing up, I went to enter the chatrooms, but a popup stopped me - forcing me to enter my parents email address in order to continue on. Although this is a good idea in theory, I really only entered my own address - any user could do the same - so it does not necessarily mean a parent is aware of this usage.

Another thing about this site is that it has much more advertising than the other two. The top of the page has moving ads - typical in many websites. But, what differentiates this site is that it is a part of nickelodeon so each component has something related to the network - whether it is spongebob squarepants welcoming the new users, or games focused around speed racer. On top of this, all of the chatrooms are themed with a specific brand such as lucky charms, honey nut cheerios, and lunchables.

Ok - so nicktropolis wasn't working on computer - wouldn't let me enter the chatrooms or games, it just kept saying it was loading but would only let me look at thumbnails of the different options.

There aren't many other tween online communities but I found a lot of kid communities and tween girl communities, so I chose one that is solely for tween girls.

Girlsense

This site is much different from the other ones as it is only for girls. It is even harder to navigate than the other sites as it is set up on a very cluttered home page resembling the covers of teen girl magazines.

The avatar on the website is even offered in girl form only and lets the user choose from a variety of different clothing and accessories from the "boutique". Like the other sites, Girlsense also has games and "connecting" outside of the fashion centric features. The "connecting" icon opens up a whole new aspect of the website although it also seems extremely girly. The options to write on message boards or talk in chatrooms are mixed in with cheesier options like posting an email to a crush, keeping a personal journal, and creating glittery greetings. I clicked on "fashion board" to see if people were posting about real world fashions or what they were creating on the site. I found that almost all of them were just posting plea's for people to come visit their own boutiques more than looking at anyone else's. In fact, no one even commented on anyone else's posts.