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!
