It’s 2005 and the phrase “Dear Diary” is becoming a thing of a past as more and more teens turn to their online equivalent: blogs. Today AOL unveiled RED Blogs, a new blogging service aimed at the teen set. The most notable feature is the privacy settings, which range from private (viewable to the reader [...]
It’s 2005 and the phrase “Dear Diary” is becoming a thing of a past as more and more teens turn to their online equivalent: blogs.
Today AOL unveiled RED Blogs, a new blogging service aimed at the teen set.
The most notable feature is the privacy settings, which range from private (viewable to the reader only), semi-private (viewable only to select persons, teens ages 13-15 must get parental approval of readers), and public (open to all, with younger teens’ blogs blocked from the general public).
There’s also a slew of customizable features, which the press release describes in typically square AOL style:
Guys can create their own edgy skater style look and add photos and up-dates on their favorite band, while girls might choose a shabby-chic background with funky colors and post surveys about cute actors they like.
‘Edgy skater’ – oooooohhhhh. These guys are with it.
Even if AOL is a little off track on the messaging, they are on to a big trend. According to an AOL survey, 31% of teens have read or are the author of a blog and 49% prefer to share their innermost feelings with a blog rather than their parents.
We spoke with Heather Fusion, Creative Director of gURL.com, a popular teen community and content site which draws some 1/2 million visitors a month. Similar to AOL, rougly 30% of those readers are blog users.
Fusion sees some potential problems with sites like RED Blogs, which are designed with parental restraint in mind:
In our experience, teens will shy away from blogs which limit their personal control.
That said, Fusion does acknowledge that not all teens want to make their blogs available to the public. Those who do might not want their names associated with their opinions. Still, they want to hold on to their options:
Younger teens who are in the process of developing their identity find blogs particularly appealing because they can anonymously experiment with new ideas and controversial opinions.
Even though measures to protect young teens from online predators are always a good thing, AOL seems like it’s stuck in gatekeeper mode with this one. While Yahoo! and Google are all about the open source push, AOL remains focused on keeping their existing subscribers from flying the coop, despite their press statements to the contrary. Restricted blogs are in line with this philosophy – ‘In order for your kids to be safe, they have to blog on AOL!’.
BetaNews has more coverage.
