I attended Forum One's Marketing & Online Communities event in New York City earlier this month. The event was organized by my colleague Bill Johnston who has already summarized a few sessions on our sister blog Online Community Report.

I participated in an interesting group discussion about building communities for kids and "Tweens" with Richard Weil, Community Director, at the Cartoon Network. He has been involved in the development of Mini Match, a virtual world for teens and other sites for kids.

An aside: The topic was interesting to me and my colleague Dave Witzel (also in attendance) because Forum One has had a hand in a number of sites for children including PBS Kids' Backyard Jungle, an online community for kids to share the natural world they find their own backyard.

Richard talked about the marketing challenges -- legal and ethical -- in building any community site for minors. Kid online communities present special challenges because due to the federal COPPA law and other guidelines, you really have to limit kids' ability to talk to one another.

This is, as a tween might say, a drag because unfettered communication is the heart of an online community. So, for example, TuneTown has no direct live chat and no official message boards. But they have been able to allow some interaction by allowing kids to select from a number of pre-approved messages to send to other kids. Likewise, "ground rules for MiniMatch, say "Personal Information: Don't give yours out, and don't ask for anyone else's.Don't give yours out, and don't ask for anyone else's."

Among Richards key points:

• It's a fad-driven market: It's easy to fail. But when you have a big kid hit, it can be very, very big. The most successful online kid sites and shows become a multi-generational experience (think SpongeBob) and can be quite lucrative. Kids after all, heavily influence how and where their parents spend (and donate) their money.
• Understand your audience: Don't assume that all kids within a certain age group have similar characteristics. Young children change their interests quickly and have very diverse interests. (Say, do I hear Tim Shaw's voice in the background?)
• Don't aim too broadly: Targeting "Tweens" isn't much more narrow than targeting "humans." You really need to do your research and understand for whom you're building your community. Cartoon Network does this through parent focus groups and "mall grabs" among other techniques.
• Test: Cartoon network has a very carefully staged testing process, although surprisingly kids are the last to test the product because you can't get a kid to sign a Non-disclosure Agreement.

In short, Richard said, the goal of any community-driven kid site is to create a "siloed" experience in which the kids -- and their parents -- feel safe.

I left this interesting discussion with the realitization that if it's hard for the Cartoon Network to reach children, policy groups and nonprofits certainly have their work cut out for them. Still, I think social and political message often ressonate with the young who really do want to improve their world. So I think there is a receptive audience that many organizations haven't yet fully engaged.

What sort of challenges have you run into in developing sites and communities for kids? Let us know in the comments!

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Cartoon Network
Tweens
Mini Match
Online Communities