List of Communities, Virtual Worlds, and Social Networks for Youth, Boomers, Retired, and Beyond
I’m doing research around how different ages using social networks, communities, and virtual worlds by age, and will compile this list as it grows. I’m looking for established community sites that are mature enough to work with brands.
There is already so much coverage on mainstream social networks like Bebo, MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn that we forget about the other smaller niche networks. First, understand technographics (how ages use social media 18+) by accessing Forrester’s profile tool, available for free.
If you know the demographics for any of these, please leave a comment.
Youth
I’m primarily seeking communties that are under 18, beyond just MySpace.
Club Penguin, Disney
8-12, Virtual WorldStardolls
Young Girls 10-17, Social Network, virtual dollsBarbie Girls
6-16, Virtual WorldWeeWorld
Youth, Avatar based Social networkZookazoo
6-10 year olds, Virtual WorldClub Penguin, Disney
8-12, Social network, virtual dollsGaia
Teens, Virtual WorldHabbo Hotel
European Youth, Virtual WorldCyworld
South Korean youth, (and now global), virtual/social networkNeopets
Youth, Virtual PetsPixie Hollow, Disney
Young Girls, Virtual PetTeen Second Life
Teen, Virtual WorldWebkinz
Youth, Virtual WorldPiczo
Teens, Social NetworkDizzywood
Youth, Virtual World/gamesShining Stars, by Russ
Youth, ‘name a star’
Puzzle Pirates
Youth, Gaming, Virtual World
50+
Now of course, boomers and retired are also going to be on lifestyle social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn, but I’m seeking examples that are focused in on reaching these folks.
Eons
50+, Social NetworkBOOMj
50+, Social NetworkTee Bee Dee
Boomers, Social NetworkAARP
Boomers, Social NetworkThere’s a larger list of Boomer sites, many I’ve not heard from.
Departed
Someone suggests this in the comments in Friendfeed, makes sense.
Legacy
Respectance
Tributes.com
SweetMemoriesSite
ChristianMemorials
PreciousMemoriesAndMoreFor what it’s worth, I hope this blog lives on past my time here.
Related Resources
Danah Boyd has a great PDF on Youth and Social Networks (PDF) Many reports (260) on Forrester site tagged youth
34 Comments so far
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Would add in the game Runescape, which is a English start up out of Cambridge. Enjoys massive traction and is WW for under 16s. If it qualifies as a SN?
Jeremiah, I wrote this post back in November so who knows how much it has changed since then but it may help for your boomer category:
http://emersondirect.wordpress.com/2007/11/13/the-top-30-social-network-sites-for-baby-boomers/
For 40+:
http://www.teebeedee.com
Then there’s weeworld for the youths
http://www.weeworld.com/
What about the virtual world of Shakespeare being created at Indiana Uni - http://swi.indiana.edu/ardenworld.htm
Let’s hope there’s more to virtual worlds for kids than trying to sell toys…
Second Life Teen Grid and Pixie Hollow, disney. Also have Alice.org which is for drag and drop programming of virtual worlds. Fun.
Thanks I’m adding some of these.
Will pass on MMORPG for now
Thanks for the list Jeremiah! I have a 12 year old and she has visited two on your list but never returned. All of her friends are on myspace so much easier for her to connect with them there. She has recently picked up an interest in Ning and working on creating her own social networking site - I’ll let you know how that goes!
My boys are 10 & 11 and big fans of the disney and wee world sites.
Best,
Betty
Thanks Betty!
I’d also add WePlay, which is a sports-based site geared towards 8-13 year-olds (it seems like). Takkle.com is another strictly sports social network but it’s mainly for older teens/high school crowd.
Community.beliefnet.com
Take a look at Dizzywood.com - they presented last week at Under the Radar and are building a great kid’s virtual world. Sweet interface - lot’s of fun.
More info came in from my colleague
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Oh yes!
Doko: www.dokodrop.com - social network/game
GirlSense.com – www.girlsense.com – teen fashion-based community
Moshi Monsters – www.moshimonsters.com – virtual world (British company)
Zwinktopia – slightly different, dressable-up avatars, but they have already done some partnerships with clothing firms etc
There is also a very long list of existent and planned teen/younger aimed environments here:
http://www.virtualworldsmanagement.com/2008/youthworlds.html
which is pretty recent -April.
Hope that helps!
Rj
Rebecca Jennings
Tootsville is a virtual world for kids, 6-12.
http://tootsville.com
Only 15% of CyWorld’s population are 13-18 years of age (and only 35% are 13- 24). In fact 22% are over 40. Cyworld just has those child-like avatars to make you think it’s for kids
[…] Originally posted here: List of Communities, Virtual Worlds, and Social Networks for Youth, Boomers, Retired, and Beyond […]
Webkinz can be used by kids as young as 3 and can stay relevant to them through their early reading years - 8 to 10 I’d guess.
I find it interesting that parents will pay for their children to join a social community like Webkinz but very few adult networks could get away with charging admission for entry.
[…] List of Communities, Virtual Worlds, and Social Networks for Youth, Boomers, Retired, and Beyond […]
www.vois.com is an online community for 25-50
[…] A bunch more […]
What is a Community - a good definition…
Found this definition of Community on one of my favorite Marketing Blogs ( Web Strategy by Jeremiah …
AARP recently relaunched its website, which includes a community component. Anyone can sign up to be a part of the community, but as an organization, AARP focuses on the 50+. Check out http://www.aarp.org/onlinecommunity/
Glad you liked Danah Boyd Paper Youth and Social Networks - she is great.
You should also check out Doko, social networking and global trading Game for kids - www.dokodrop.com.
Combining physical, virtual world and social networking interaction to help kids get out from behind computers as well.
Doko launched just weeks ago and has already amassed thousands of registered users, connecting children in 73 countries around the globe so far. The game is geared toward tweens - they thought boys would like to more than girls - but the girls are loving the fun characters.
Full Disclosure: I’m helping launch them - but my Nephews love ‘em so much - I feel okay sharing.
Please feel to opt-out in sharing if you don’t feel appropriate - Thanks,
Bob C.
You might find this graph of use….
http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/?page_id=2092
[…] from. Departed Someone suggests this in the comments in Friendfeed, makes sense. Legacy Respectance Tributes.com SweetMemoriesSite ChristianMemorials PreciousMemoriesAndMore*Thanks to Jeremy for putting this […]
[…] morning, my wife read Jeremiah Owyang’s post on Social Networks for all kinds of folks. He didn’t list AARP’s Online Social Community, so she left a comment about it. The […]
[…] List of Communities, Virtual Worlds, and Social Networks for Youth, Boomers, Retired, and Beyond - […]
Thanks for including us. You missed Dizzywood, my kid’s favorite community. www.dizzywood.com
[…] List of Communities, Virtual Worlds, and Social Networks for Youth, Boomers, Retired, and Beyond […]
Check out http://www.newretirement.com/ - it’s mostly financial planning reference right now, but does contain an active Answers section.
Uhh, you missed www.roliana.com ( another role-playing site very similar to gaiaonline, but with a lot less users ), and www.kinsaki.com ( I think it just started, ‘cuz it has less than 20k people registered. )
I think they’re both for people under 18.
Hope you find this helpfull
Thought this might be helpful… it’s a Virtual Worlds wiki in timeline format - we should merge everyone’s input here: http://www.dipity.com/user/xantherus/timeline/Virtual_Worlds
Another one I have come across is Rocketon (www.rocketon.com). I guess the company is still in private alpha, but I have come across a few articles on it. I am not exactly sure if they are targeting youth, but the art seems to suggest so.
papermint (www.papermint.com): with all this comments, this article became a quite interesting list of social virtual worlds. don’t miss papermint! as undefined and open as paper, rich of possible stories and colorful like LSD.
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