Recently, I found an app which is quite cool! It’s called Togetherville. I don’t think anyone can deny the impact that Facebook has had on our culture, capturing the “free time” of both parents and children and connecting families. One of the issues of great concern with Facebook use is the number of under 13 year olds who use the site – which is against their TOS. While I have my own thoughts on that issue, which I’ll save for another post, there are real problems that may arise from younger children being on social media sites. Generally, those problems are peer related but whatever they may be, Togetherville aims to allow children ages 6-10 to get online and involved in social media, minus the inherent caveats.
What Is Togetherville?
According to the site, “Togetherville is a new type of online community specifically designed for kids 6 to 10. However, any kid under 13 can join. Kids play and connect with real-life friends and family in a safe, child-friendly place with parents and trusted adults close by, just like in a good neighborhood. The site mimics the experience of adult social networking sites, but it’s age-appropriate and parent-monitored.” That’s great for a general idea of what Togetherville is, but I’m going to take you through what exactly that looks like.
“Create” An Account
As you can see on the homepage image above, you don’t actually have to create a new account, you simply use your existing Facebook account to login and create your child’s account as seen below.
This is where Togetherville becomes a great set of social media “training wheels” for your little learners. Once you have an account created for your child you have control over who is added and you can immediately connect them to all of your/their immediate family and relatives. The feature that allows you to keep things safe is that only those people within your social network who also have the Togetherville application – and their child(ren) – can request to connect to your child. What this does is set up a sort of “digital playpen” for your children. It’s a safe zone where they can hone their online social interaction skills under your watchful eye. They do this in the least invasive manner, by giving children their own log in and allowing them to communicate with their peers just like they would on adult social networking sites by posting status updates and the like.
The Digital Playpen
One of the interactive features I really like about Togetherville is that those status updates, which can get somewhat harrowing as they get older, are actually pre-populated short messages which children may choose from a drop-down menu when they go to update their statuses. I can tell you from experience that when you allow children to jump on these social networks when they’re young and still learning some social skills that having preset updates is great! Especially if you have a little one who is one of the socially awkward types IRL (In Real Life). When you first create your child’s account you will also be asked which school they go to. This allows children to friend IRL classmates as well but just like with requests from adult family members and their children, you will receive en email and with Togetherville alerts. Togetherville also gives little ones a taste of all the healthy things that are out there on the web by allowing them to access pre-approved YouTube videos and flash games.
Perhaps the greatest feature of Togetherville for parents is that it affords them the chance to let their children dip their toes in the social media waters in a manner which is easily controlled and straight forward. Being just one website, this doesn’t keep them off the internet as a whole, but there are applications for that like SafeEyes and NetNanny and even Kidzui which will facilitate that according to your needs and the rules of your household.
About Tshaka Armstrong
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