Tween Entrepeneur Lessons - GirlSense.com

I see a lot of press releases about Web 2.0 community sites, and most of them, quite honestly, I skip right over. For some reason, one released last week caught my eye. GirlSense was being re-launched as a free site, and while I wasn't familiar with its previous incarnation, the concept of the site caught my eye.

Designed for tween girls, who actually make up a large consumer base, the site features your standard pink flowers and games designed for the typical Hannah Montana fan. Where it gets interesting, however, is in one of the main features of the site: building a tiny little web empire within the community.

GirlSense has several areas where girls can design their own fashions, decorate and stock a boutique, set prices for their creations, and even buy “advertising” on the site using site currency called G-cents that they earn by selling their creations. Additional base products to customize fashions and accessories are also available by spending G-cents, so the more items you create and sell, the more you can build your empire.

The trouble with most 2.0 sites when it comes to letting children online is safety, and GirlSense goes out of their way to ensure the safety of its community members. Prominent links include tips for staying safe online, and every registration is copied to a parent's email address for verification. Once online, the site monitors user interaction for any problem behavior. Messages are passed between members via “Notes” so email addresses can remain hidden.

The downside to the free launch is that there are some activities or ads for products, but it's much less invasive advertising than you see on children's television. Most of the message board chat seems to have to do with empire building, and the girls on the site seem very focused on building and marketing their businesses.

It's often tough to find community sites for kids that protect privacy, have a community, and actually provide a worthwhile online experience, but GirlSense seems to have managed it. I let my tween loose on the site with parental supervision and she's already become quite the little Bill Gates, with a better handle on economics than I ever gained, informing me that she wanted to set her fashion prices low so that she could sell more and make money with the number of items purchased. She's designed advertising, evaluated competitors to see what products sell, and created her business accordingly. Hopefully more Web 2.0 sites with their sites set on the next generation of consumers will follow the same model, because this is definitely one of the better kid community sites available.