So this seems like a good enough idea. It’s called MySecretCircle and it’s basically it’s a closed social network for girls. You and your buds buy a USB key that acts as your login. It autoruns under Windows and OS X and brings up a photo and journal sharing system that only allows certain people access to your daughter’s personal info.
In theory and in practice this is great. It ensures your tween doesn’t connect with creeps like me. Kids can only connect with friends that have their private key – no one else exists in the site except for Sabrina Circle, the Tom of this candy-pink MySpace.
The environment lives entirely in flash and you can publish photos and diary entries to your page as well as play games – there are only two right now – with your friends and relations. It also has a great theme song:
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That’s pretty much it. You plug in the USB key, share your key with friends, and rock out. The physical key costs $19.99 while a dual-key BFF pack costs $29.99. A voice chat headset add-on costs $14.99. They are available at Justice stores nationwide.
The keys are kind of like Poken without the RFID part.
Maybe I’m not the best judge of social networks aimed at tweens but I think this would be a great solution for 8 to 12 year olds. My daughter is a little small to use this – she’s 6 months – but I’d rather she mess around on this rather than risk the hell demons that populate popular social networking sites like Orkut.
Photo Gallery by Picturesurf
This is a great product. My ten year old daughter and her BFF love it and were on it all afternoon yesterday.
I am also giving one away on my blog.
I don’t know, Piczo tried this and failed. This issue is that as the girls age, they abandon it. And you have to buy a piece of hardware? Yikes. Then again, maybe the model is closer to Webkinz, but the next age level, that might work. if you make enough money on them, who cares if they abandon.
http://tawk.com/131
Interesting, sell it with a barbie doll – synergy
I need to get into that site for, uhh, research.
Anyone?
I think Piczo targets the same group, but didn’t charge for membership.
MySecretCircle’s genius is the revenue model that combines the veneer of exclusivity with a sense of security for parents.
Catchy name there Tran. I once saw a viet girl who actually changed her name from Nguyen to Negen !!! Other variations are Nugent & Newan.
Sounds like a Nguyen-Nguyen situation! :-)
(editor’s note: you need to know how to pronounce
“Nguyen” to get this).
Looks like a great idea to help keep tweens safe online, and allow them freedom to be social with friends they know.
http://GirlsGuideTo.com plays off the same idea but for an older demo and a more robust for free, they keep it ladies only by identifying your sex through fb connect. pretty clever.
That theme song is terrible and has firmly implanted itself in my head, probably for the remainder of the day. Thanks.
My seeecret circle.. an onliiine social network. You’re IN or you’re OUT!
How is the secret key distributed? If people can pass out the secret key of their friends to other friends, or exchange them through IM/email, then this isn’t any more secure than MySpace.
All a creep has to do is approach someone on IM and ask for the secret key.
i think you’re overthinking this. this isn’t blowfish
Yea this doesn’t solve anything, but the parents are just as dumb as the kids. As long as you can squeeze the 20 bucks out of them who really cares what happens afterwards anyway?
How does it autorun as a flash drive? Soldered at chip level?
it shows up as a cd rom and just autoruns the app.
It won’t work. You can’t have people buy and deal with a piece of hardware to access a website.
The codes can only be used once and created through a friend code generator once you purchase the unit. With parental control, you can only exchange codes with those you are friends with. And the codes are delivered in person, not via e-mail.
Great post, John!
Now if they can just replicate something like this for all of the internet. A simple age verification system is so badly needed.
So, let me get this straight. The drive is simply a key generator, and stores no personal data on it. Correct?
apparently not
That’s a great idea! Reminds me of the serial plugins you used to need to run certain software applications.
Haha, DONGLE.
holy shit… this is like gossip girl except for teeny boppers.
I’m thinking corporate sales might benefit from this.
It’s impressive that people still come up with other ways to skin the “tween girl social network” cow. This seems to be pure business model innovation which leads to the question – how does this product excite tweens more than habbo, penguin, facebook, etc?
I think the idea is that their parents will let them use it.
If some UFO geek from London can get into NASA and the Pentagon I am sure a pedophile can find his way in there if he really wants.
I’m already using it while wearing my snuggie.
Definitely innovative, but based on the premise that the most common risk to minors online is adult predators. Only problem is, research shows that the risk affecting the most online kids is cyberbullying and harassment – mean things peers say to each other; friends becoming ex-friends and violating trust; sharing passwords and impersonating peers; etc. How does this solve those risks? This report of the ISTTF contains a full lit review of online-safety research thru 2008 (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/research/isttf).
I used it before .it’s USB 2.0 port .
So basically they made an easier way for pedophiles to gain access to only the demographic they are hot for. Now they don’t have to spend all their time trying to find tweens who lied about their age to get a myspace account.. direct access baby.
It’s like a chubby chaser getting access to an overeaters anonymous social network..
genius.
My Secret Circle seems to be an innovative way for young girls to connect with their friends in a more secure online neighborhood. Since girls love the connections that social media offer, this “key” may be a more protective solution. One comment posted above makes a great point about safety, though. Beyond the reduced (never eliminated) concern about predators, there is also a need to protect girls – and boys- from cyberbullying, and there is a concern that My Secret Circle can generate more of the “who’s in? and who’s out?” which can lead to hurtful though unintended outcomes. We invite parents and readers to consider offering girls an additional way to find safe and healthy social connections through gaining friendship tools, acceptance and expression. Our nonprofit, Girls Circle, empowers girls through healthy circle activities – in person and with great potential to extend into protected online circles such as My Secret Circle offers.
Thank you!
Holy crap.
Your IN or you’re OUT. That song is part of what is wrong with women today. They are commoditizing friendships. Like we need more women with social problems out there.
Check out all the “office chicks” who “hang” like high school cliques, and make common “office bitches” feel like crap.
Poor, poor ladies.
This seems more like a good retailing strategy than a great product. MySecretCircle may bring some more tween buyers into Justice stores, but once the exclusivity runs out, there may not be enough momentum left to get the product into Target or Wal-Mart. Hallmark/Ganz made it work with Webkinz, but they had a great product.
Um…flash drives have been known to carry self-propagating worms. They lurk unseen on USB drives and come to life when the flash drive is inserted into your pc / mac. It then downloads a code that connects else ware on the net and stays in touch with it’s creator, sending all data from your computer and can even make it possible for the creator to manipulate your settings and take control of your computer. The Department of Defense has banned the use of USB drives and they are being phased out by the corporate world.
On a lighter note, children (as do adults) misplace, lose and have items stolen all the time. Children also fall into and out of friendships often. Then there is the fact that I can’t find much about the company Senario and their web site has been under construction since they began their campaign launching giveaways through mom based blogs. And their name is quite similar to Sanrio which is a big favorite and trusted kid friendly company. I would be extremely cautious.
were can you buy my secret circle i life in the netherlands and i don’t find it in netherland
sorry for the bad english :D