List of Communities, Virtual Worlds, and Social Networks for Youth, Boomers, Retired, and Beyond

Categories: Generations, Industry Index, Social Networking, Virtual WorldPosted on June 11th, 2008

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 World

Stardolls
Young Girls 10-17, Social Network, virtual dolls

Barbie Girls
6-16, Virtual World

WeeWorld
Youth, Avatar based Social network

Zookazoo
6-10 year olds, Virtual World

Club Penguin, Disney
8-12, Social network, virtual dolls

Gaia
Teens, Virtual World

Habbo Hotel
European Youth, Virtual World

Cyworld
South Korean youth, (and now global), virtual/social network

Neopets
Youth, Virtual Pets

Pixie Hollow, Disney
Young Girls, Virtual Pet

Teen Second Life
Teen, Virtual World

Webkinz
Youth, Virtual World

Piczo
Teens, Social Network

Dizzywood
Youth, Virtual World/games

Shining 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 Network

BOOMj
50+, Social Network

Tee Bee Dee
Boomers, Social Network

AARP
Boomers, Social Network

There’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
PreciousMemoriesAndMore

For 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

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 12:28 pm and is filed under Generations, Industry Index, Social Networking, Virtual World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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?

Posted by JC on June 11th, 2008 at 12:34 pm

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/

Posted by Marc Meyer on June 11th, 2008 at 12:35 pm

For 40+:
http://www.teebeedee.com

Posted by Leanne Waldal on June 11th, 2008 at 12:37 pm

Then there’s weeworld for the youths
http://www.weeworld.com/

Posted by Leanne Waldal on June 11th, 2008 at 12:39 pm

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…

Posted by Joining Dots on June 11th, 2008 at 12:42 pm

Second Life Teen Grid and Pixie Hollow, disney. Also have Alice.org which is for drag and drop programming of virtual worlds. Fun.

Posted by Christine Crawford on June 11th, 2008 at 12:43 pm

Thanks I’m adding some of these.

Will pass on MMORPG for now

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on June 11th, 2008 at 12:52 pm

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

Posted by Betty Sanchez on June 11th, 2008 at 1:05 pm

Thanks Betty!

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on June 11th, 2008 at 1:15 pm

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.

Posted by Jason Peck on June 11th, 2008 at 2:04 pm

Community.beliefnet.com

Posted by john on June 11th, 2008 at 2:18 pm

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.

Posted by Mike Samson on June 11th, 2008 at 2:57 pm

More info came in from my colleague

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Oh yes!

Doko: http://www.dokodrop.com - social network/game

GirlSense.com – http://www.girlsense.com – teen fashion-based community

Moshi Monsters – http://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!

Rebecca Jennings

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on June 11th, 2008 at 3:12 pm

Tootsville is a virtual world for kids, 6-12.
http://tootsville.com

Posted by Emily on June 11th, 2008 at 3:15 pm

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

Posted by Laurel Papworth on June 11th, 2008 at 3:22 pm

[...] Originally posted here: List of Communities, Virtual Worlds, and Social Networks for Youth, Boomers, Retired, and Beyond [...]

Posted by List of Communities, Virtual Worlds, and Social Networks for Youth, Boomers, Retired, and Beyond | Webkinz Blog on June 11th, 2008 at 3:29 pm

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.

Posted by Cameron Gross on June 11th, 2008 at 3:34 pm

[...] List of Communities, Virtual Worlds, and Social Networks for Youth, Boomers, Retired, and Beyond [...]

Posted by robwire.com » Blog Archive » List of Communities, Virtual Worlds, and Social Networks for Youth, Boomers, Retired, and Beyond on June 11th, 2008 at 7:21 pm

http://www.vois.com is an online community for 25-50

Posted by lapp on June 12th, 2008 at 6:27 am

[...] A bunch more [...]

Posted by MediaSauceBlog » Blog Archive » Social Media Mania - Follow Up on June 12th, 2008 at 7:16 am

What is a Community - a good definition…

Found this definition of Community on one of my favorite Marketing Blogs ( Web Strategy by Jeremiah …

Posted by Internet Marketing Insights on June 12th, 2008 at 7:52 am

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/

Posted by Meredith Sandell on June 12th, 2008 at 10:27 am

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 - http://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.

Posted by Robert Collins on June 12th, 2008 at 11:23 am

You might find this graph of use….

http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/?page_id=2092

Posted by nic mitham on June 12th, 2008 at 11:40 am

[...] 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 [...]

Posted by FRANkthoughts » Blog Archive » Natural fragmentation of social media & ownership issues on June 12th, 2008 at 4:02 pm

[...] 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 [...]

Posted by Social Networking for Old People? | Villager With Wheel on June 12th, 2008 at 7:45 pm

[...] List of Communities, Virtual Worlds, and Social Networks for Youth, Boomers, Retired, and Beyond - [...]

Posted by Virtual Paris 2007 » Mes liens du 11 juin 2008 au 13 juin 2008 on June 13th, 2008 at 4:32 am

Thanks for including us. You missed Dizzywood, my kid’s favorite community. http://www.dizzywood.com

Posted by Robin Wolaner on June 13th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

Posted by Recent Links on Ma.gnolia at Fast Wonder Blog on June 14th, 2008 at 12:01 am

Check out http://www.newretirement.com/ - it’s mostly financial planning reference right now, but does contain an active Answers section.

Posted by Steve on June 14th, 2008 at 5:45 pm

Uhh, you missed http://www.roliana.com ( another role-playing site very similar to gaiaonline, but with a lot less users ), and http://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

Posted by Annabella Noxious on July 3rd, 2008 at 4:57 pm

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

Posted by Ann Marie Mathis on July 16th, 2008 at 2:43 pm

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.

Posted by Jessica on July 16th, 2008 at 4:03 pm

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.
br,
lev

Posted by Lev on August 21st, 2008 at 5:31 am

For Entrepreneurs :: http://www.efactor.com
E.Factor, the fastest growing business community for Entrepreneurs and Investors.

Posted by Stephanie on October 20th, 2008 at 7:18 am

Hey Jeremiah! Thought you’d be interested in checking out Horseland.com, a youth oriented SN site for those with a shared interest in horses. Also, YouthNoise.com for teens interested in social activism. Take care and great site! -jp