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- Ypulse Essentials: Flip.com Closes, Disney Streetwear, Generation CDecember 2
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Flip.com flops (Conde Nast's social networking site for teen girls sent out a notice today informing users that the site will be closing on December 16. Notably, they provided instructions for how "flipsters" can save their content beforehand) (Gawker)- Texting for tots? (Not exactly. The first mobile phone for children designed exclusively to meet the needs of parents is set to launch in Hong Kong. Also a debate on how far social sites should go to verify users' age?) (PSFK) (Social Times)
- The Black College Football Experience (a new Xbox game that combines Rock Band with EA's Madden series in an effort to fully immerse players in the feel of attending a Black College football game. Interesting note: the game will feature a Museum section p
- MySpace Is For Cretins!?December 2
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If you're in the web/media space, you've probably seen this story by now where media critic Michael Wolff tells BusinessWeek columnist Jon Fine:
"If you're on MySpace now, you're a (expletive) cretin. And you're not only a (expletive) cretin, but you're poor…Nobody who has beyond an eighth grade level of education is on MySpace. It is for backwards people."
Class warfare language aside, this controversy/story immediately reminded me of the blog essay danah boyd wrote about this very topic, which also generated lots of controversy. danah based her observations on the ethnographic research she was doing (the culmination of that research and more from her peers is now online). Having been "in the field" for the past year and half speaking at public and private schools as well as libraries, I also agree that there is socio-economic stratification happening on these sites. But as danah so eloquently put it, it's not just income/education:
"Hegemonic American teens (i.e. middle/upper class, college bound teens from upwards mobile or well off families) are all on or switching to Facebook. Marginalized teens, teens from poorer or less educated backgrounds, subculturally-identified teens, and other non
- Extra! Extra! The TweenTribune LaunchesDecember 2
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Today in my inbox I received an email promoting a new online newspaper site for tweens called "The TweenTribune." It's basically a big link aggregator where you can comment on news stories allegedly from "a tweens perspective." The goal, according to the email from Alan Jacobson, of BrassTacksDesign, is to: "…encourage tweens to seek out news on a daily basis. Our democracy depends upon a well-informed public, so it's important to foster a daily news-reading habit at an early age. TweenTribune does that by enticing tweens with a few offbeat stories they wouldn't find elsewhere. Only TweenTribune promotes the daily habit because its the only news site for tweens that is updated daily."
I get it — and even applaud this goal, though I don't know that tweens identify themselves as tweens (re: the name), and when I first checked it out, the link heavy design made me wonder if it was another "splog" like
- The Shaky Ethics Of American High School StudentsDecember 2
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In yesterday's Essentials we posted a link to an AP article on a recent survey conducted among high school students by The Josephson Institute Center for Youth Ethics. Findings suggest that some students may need to take a refresher course in ethics (Sidenote: Do any high schools even offer this class anymore? Mine didn't). As the results may lead to some interesting questions in the classroom — not to mention some uncomfortable conversations around the dinner table — we thought we'd lay out some stats for Ypulse readers to digest, discuss and possibly debate. The AP article reports that the survey was given to 29,760 students at 100 randomly selected high schools nationwide, both public and private, and all students were assured anonymity.
- 30 percent of U.S. high school students have stolen from a store (23 percent said they'd stolen from a parent or a relative)
- 64 percent have cheated on a test and 38 percent did so two or more times (up from 60 percent and 35 percent in 2006)
- 36 percent said they used the Internet to plagiarize an assignment (up from 33 percent in 2004)
- 42 percent said they sometimes lie to save money (Interesting discrepancy here between boys at 49 percent and girls at 36 percent. Are guys under more pressure to spend?)
- 93 percent said they were sa
- Ypulse Essentials: 'A Colbert Christmas,' High School Ethics, Obama Elementary?December 1
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'A Colbert Christmas' (the holiday special of choice among young men. Plus reviews are in after "For the Recod," Britney's much-anticipated documentary debuted on MTV last night. The verdict? Sorta like "The Hills.") (Ad Age, reg. required) (Flavorwire)- How to get Gen Y to bank with you? (Be less clunky and more user-friendly. That's the strategy behind financial service provider PNC's "Virtual Wallet." Also the effect of the economic downturn on young people's saving habits) (Economic Times) (USA Today)
- AOL gives gamer parents a shortcut (with a new site that rates and reviews video games for parent
