ScuttlePad

The single focus here at ScuttlePad is to create a safe and secure social networking environment for kids ages 6-11. So, this week we’re sharing some behind-the-scenes goings-on to highlight the safety measures that keep kids safe on the site.

Safety Net #1: No Grown-Up Profiles Allowed.

We don’t deviate from this policy. Ever. Even as the founder of ScuttlePad, I don’t have a profile. While we appreciate the interest from teachers and parents who want to check out the site for their kid(s), we do need to remove all adult accounts from the site to ensure kids’ safety.

We recently deactivated the registration of a teacher in Brazil, and received the following e-mail in response:

“…I understand why my account deactivated, as I am an art director and focused on emerging trends could not help taking a look at the site, loved the idea and saw that it actually works because the level of seriousness and responsibility is taken very seriously, because I was disabled, even though harmless but agree it is a space only for small, congratulations for the idea, the initiative and commitment …. big hug.”

It’s important to note, however, that we strongly encourage parents to use ScuttlePad alongside their kids, so they can learn together and parents can help kids through the process.

Safety Net #2: No Free-Form Text

One of the most important measures we emphasize with parents and educators is that ScuttlePad has no free-form text. Kids create status updates/comments by selecting from pre-approved word lists to form sentences.

By filtering out inappropriate words (sexual, harassing), or identifying words (numbers, specific locations), kids can’t get into trouble by sharing too much or inappropriate information—or get approached by adult strangers.

Safety Net #3: All Photos Are Reviewed Before Posting

Perhaps our most important safety measure is the simple fact that human eyes review all photos before being posted to the site. Of course we’ve rejected the types of photos you’d expect us to reject, those of a sexual, revealing or predatory nature.

We have also rejected images of cartoon characters drinking and smoking; classroom photos showing names, schools, and locations; team sports photos showing names and locations.

Humans review photo submissions to ensure content is appropriate. There is no work-around or way to deceive human eyes to “game” the system. As we see everything that is posted on the site beforehand, parents can be assured their kids won’t see anything inappropriate.

These are just a few of the things that go on behind the scenes here at ScuttlePad. We take our responsibility seriously, and want you to feel confident that when your son or daughter joins ScuttlePad, that they are protected.

If you have any further questions, feel free to drop me a line.

Here at ScuttlePad we talk a lot about the latest trends and statistics behind online social networking and kids. When we talk to parents and educators, however, they rarely ask us about numbers at all. But we like looking at the numbers behind what’s happening out there, and we always use them to explain ScuttlePad to parents and guardians.

What most educators and parents always find most interesting is just how ingrained social networking is in a kid’s life today.

What 77% of Parents Don’t Know

Common Sense Media recently conducted a survey to find out how well these parents and guardians actually understand the social networking behavior of their children.

For starters, only 23% of parents thought that their children were logging on to a social network site more than once a day. That means 77% of parents underestimated how often their kids are even interested in social networks!

What 51% of Kids Do Everyday

The reality, according to the same survey, is that 51% of kids are logging on to a social network more than once a day – some as much as 10 times a day!

Clearly, numbers like this tell us social networking plays a big role in the daily life of a majority of youth – and that we have a responsibility to make sure they are doing it right and staying safe.

Only 8% of Parents Trust Facebook and MySpace

This is one of the fundamental challenges for parents and guardians of children under the age of 13 who are, or who want to be, active in social networking.

A study by Retrevo found that only 8% of parents trust Facebook or MySpace for their children under the age of 12.

And therein lays the challenge. If a majority of kids under 12 years old are logging into a social network daily, and only a handful of parents support the most popular sites, where do these kids go?

We of course welcome them to ScuttlePad! The numbers keep showing us that parents, teachers and guardians want and need a social network site designed exclusively for 6-11 year olds. Their kids need a place that is safe, secure and designed to teach the fundamentals of social networking in a fun and friendly way.

One of the most frequent questions we’ve fielded here at ScuttlePad since our launch has been about why we would want to start a social networking site for kids.

That is definitely a fair question, and one best answered by looking at where we are today in the evolution of kids and social networking.

Until recently, the jury was still out on the effects of social networking and kids. But, in a landmark study by the MacArthur Foundation, it was determined that social networking for kids was definitively beneficial to their development – socially and as a cyber-citizen.

As a result of the study, parents, guardians and educators immediately started supporting their kids’ online activity.

Around this same time, however, “social gaming” sites were climbing their way across the web. These sites provide a community where kids could go to play games and sometimes share their scores with the community – but they were really limited in terms of online social interactions.

I think it was savvy marketers who began to bill these sites as “social networks for kids” – but kids aren’t fooled and soon started looking for true social networking experiences on sites like Facebook and MySpace.

Sometimes parents and guardians supported these online explorations, however most of the time they had no idea their kids were networking online. That has caused a lot of concern.

Ask any parent or guardian what they do or where they go when their 6-11 year old asks for a Facebook or MySpace account, and you’ll hear them say over and over that there really hasn’t been a real social networking site that was safe for their children to participate in.

I also wasn’t seeing any valid sites where the primary focus was safe, kid-friendly social networking (not social gaming) – so I decided that the time was right to introduce ScuttlePad into homes and classrooms.

As I’ve enjoyed explaining to many of you already, that is where the idea came from, and it’s our vision to keep it growing! We’re creating a social network specifically for 6-11 year olds where they can learn the fundamentals of social networking all in a safe and secure environment.

We knew ScuttlePad was going to be embraced by kids, parents, and teachers, but we were surprised by how many terrific people have already welcomed ScuttlePad into their homes, classrooms and social networks. From English teachers in the UK, to kids who just want to connect, to parents of special needs kids, to those who help shape state and federal Internet regulations for kids – we have met some wonderful people during our launch!

Since we opened ScuttlePad August 3, we have heard from hundreds of parents about their appreciation for helping them introduce social networking to kids. We’ve corrected some media misunderstandings of how kids can be protected online.

We’ve also stopped dozens of adults from joining. Of course these were all teachers or parents wanting to check us out; sorry, ScuttlePad is just for kids!. That’s our zero tolerance policy. We’ve been in contact with most of those people explaining our kids-only policy. We do encourage everyone to join their kids in the process as they become members—and in short order we will bring the offline version for parents and teachers to use and see what all the excitement is about!

What we’ve enjoyed most is approving the hundreds of memberships from across the globe and giving kids a way to connect with friends.

We’ve been talking with leaders in online child protection, including the Salt Lake City-based editor of NetFamilyNews.org, Anne Collier, the expert behind “MySpace Unraveled: A Parent’s Guide to Teen Social Networking” (Peachpit Press, 2006). As a member of the federal Internet Safety Technical Task Force, she has thankfully shared her perspective and appreciation for ScuttlePad.

WriteNowMom, a blogger from Las Vegas, welcomed ScuttlePad as a way for her daughter, and other Asberger’s Syndrome children to have an easy-to -use network that is safe from bullies. ZDNet captured our mission perfectly with its article that showed “MySpace, Facebook and other social networking sites might attract a lot of users under the age of 18, but there isn’t really a site directed solely towards kids. ScuttlePad is hoping to fill that void.”

Richard Byrne over at Free Technology for Teachers found us and immediately saw how “ScuttlePad provides a safe, supervised, place in which children can communicate with each other.”

AppScout helped spread the message to its own readers with these words:  “If you want to give your kids an introduction to the world of Twitter and Facebook and other social networks without letting them loose unsupervised on either of those two services, you do have options. ScuttlePad.”

It has been a wonderful experience (one that will continue to grow) seeing so many people accept a safe and fun place for their kids to build social networks. Our team enjoyed hearing from all of you, so keep your ideas and thoughts coming!  Regardless of how you feel, I will always respond. And thanks for being a part of this new way for kids to rule their own Internet!

Today we launched ScuttlePad, the first social network just for kids!

You’re reading this, so you’re among the people who care about kids—and how they’re using social networks. So let us know how you enjoy ours. We deliberately didn’t muddle a fun social networking experience with games and puzzles, and we’re anxious to hear your reactions.

As you’ll see from the flurry of activity today on ScuttlePad and our Facebook page and Twitter feed, social networking has become a fascinating part of a kid’s life. That’s why we created ScuttlePad, to give young people a safe and simple environment to learn how to build a profile and share updates with friends.

As you get more involved in our community, you’ll see we’re trying to meet the specific needs of 6-11 year-olds in a way that lets these kids express themselves. We’re using guided communication to help teach how to share information responsibly, and parents and teachers — those familiar with social networking and those new to it — are welcoming ScuttlePad into their homes and classrooms as a platform that keeps kids connected and safe.

Thank you to those of you who joined us on our launch day, and we hope to hear from you as your kids get out there and connect with their friends. You won’t find me on ScuttlePad (I’m too old!) but feel free to email me at chad.perry@scuttlepad.com and please follow us on Twitter at @scuttlepad and “Like” us on our Facebook page.