We are pleased to be working with one of the UK’s most exciting new websites
www.schooltogethernow.com. The site was set up by mum of three Esther Guy (above with her kids) as a social networking site aimed exclusively at school children and their parents.
This is our first month working with School Together Now and our campaign has gotten off to a flying start with a lovely half page piece in today’s London Evening Standard by technology reporter Mark Prigg. Click here to visit the Standard’s site, or read the story below…
PARENTS are being urged to sign their children up to a new “Facebook for five-year-olds”.
A mother-of-three has created School Together Now so primary school children can experience social networking sites. It is also supposed to raise money for schools via advertising.
Parents will form online groups to talk about their children’s school, while the children will be encouraged to join to email friends and play games.
Currently most social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook do not allow children under 16 to sign up.
Esther Guy, 33, who set up the site, said it would be “self-policing” as the parents who join will supervise entries.
Mrs Guy, from Tadworth in Surrey, said: “Security was obviously a big issue. When you sign up, you nominate a school and can then see everyone else on that list, so parents instantly spot names they don’t recognise, and we can instantly remove them.”
She said it would also be impossible to email anyone until they have accepted your “buddy request” acknowledging they are friends. The site will carry advertising, and each school will get 20 per cent of the advertising revenue linked with its listing.
Mrs Guy, who works for a recruitment firm, came up with the idea after realising she hardly ever met fellow parents. “I realised I was rarely at the school gates, and was missing out on the community that forms among parents. I think a lot of parents my age also feel that Facebook may have passed them by, so I wanted somewhere to arrange nights out with them, and chat about our children.
“In tests of the site that has really happened, with mums using it to arrange nights out and meeting up with each other.”
Children can also play games on the site, and all content posted will be monitored and vetted to ensure it is suitable for youngsters to view.
“I wanted to create a site where children could email each other, without parents worrying,” said Mrs Guy, who has three daughters, twins aged seven and a four-year-old.
“If the site becomes a success, as we hope it will, then there will be a massive financial benefit for schools.”
Last year Club Penguin, one of the most popular sites for children, was sold to Disney for $350million.
Our client Steve Barnes, director of C2B Software Solutions Ltd, the parent company behind the UK’s leading voucher shopping site www.MyUKVouchercodes.com was interviewed by ITN news’s Consumer Affairs editor Chris Choi today.
