Everloop: The social network for kids from JD Lasica on Vimeo.
Got kids? Then you’ll want to know about a social network that does a solid job of providing a social experience for children and tweens that’s safe, secure — and not totally lame.
I first met Everloop CEO Hilary DeCesare at the Stanford Summit last year, and caught up with her a short while back at the Silicon Valley Innovation Summit, the third name for the perenniel event put on by the AlwaysOn Network at Stanford University.
Everloop fills an important gap in social networking, giving kids up to age 13 a secure online environment where they can interact and communicate with their friends and peers. As the site says: Sorry, no grown-ups allowed (except for site moderators).
Everloop helps kids, at school or at home, learn and play in “a safe, secure social loop,” Hilary says. It’s evolved into a digital learning platform that allows children to explore their curiosity in the areas of gaming, sports, entertainment and other areas, she says. And as more tweens now use mobile phones, the site offers EverText as the kids’ answer to Twitter.
“The kids aren’t actually learning at school how to be safe online,” DeCesare says. “But the kids are going on social networks, and they’re using their mobile phones to access the Internet.” Parents, she says, can use a parental dashboard on Everloop that gives them insight into what their kids are actually doing.
DeCesare, a mom to 13-year-old twins and a tween, developed Everloop to give kids under 13 age-appropriate content and the sophisticated social networking tools they want while providing online privacy protection technologies.
A leader in the areas of children and technology, Hilary was invited to last March’s White House Conference on Bullying Prevention. She has been recognized as one of AlwaysOn’s “Top 25 Women in Tech to Watch” for 2010 and 2011, and she encourages girls and young women to find a mentor to help them learn about “the hard-knock life of being an entrepreneur.”
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JD Lasica, founder of Inside Social Media, is also a fiction author and the co-founder of the cruise discovery engine Cruiseable. See his About page, contact JD or follow him on Twitter.
These looks like a great alternative for kids that is fun and most importantly safe. These days there is social media for business, individuals, and groups so why not kids?
Indeed great alternative for kids…I'm just wondering how they respond on this, because it's crucial that they like it more than standard social networks…if that happens, lots of parents will get much more peace :)
Social networking sites are a great way for kids to stay connected but kids and tweens are too young for most social networking sites. There is another website that offers social networking for tweens that is completely safe and constantly monitored. ” target=”_blank”>http://www.KidsSocialNetwork.com is for kids and tweens and is monitored by law enforcement officials. Kids social networking sites are a great way for kids to learn and play as long as it is done in a safe environment.
I think this is a good idea. I worry about my nephews and nieces sometimes, they are in their teens and they're online and connected to their various social streams for such a long time. At least with this, the environment is a lot more controlled and might be safer from malicious people.