25 million kids under the age of 13 access the Internet everyday. And more than 50% create their own content. If you had any kids (which I doubt you do) would you want them publishing on the internet for anyone to see? We need more sites like imbee where kids can “graduate online” / where they can begin to learn about communications or collaboration withoutn being put at risk.

If you want to do pet site that’s your call, but frankly I’m betting that there is a fairly large opportunity in providing “point of entry” sites for kids…

So… after reading this story and the comments, I’ve decided to start http://www.MyPetSpace.com, where pets and their owners can come together and share experiences, pictures, videos and love.

I think IMBEE is on a trend here, and we’ll follow-up with a number of spin-offs like, MyHouseSpace, MyGardenSpace, MyAuraSpace…etc., as there’s virtually no limit to the potential of the social networking phenomena.

In order to differentiate ourselves, we’ll build all in Web 3.0, not that Web 2.0 hack job style, but pure Web 3.0 with some of the early Web 4.0 compliant specs.

This is going to be great.

Unlike social networking, users life expectancy on a site like mine is 3 months, it will not be easy for someone to come in spending $4/member and take it over. Webdate spent 500k a month trying to be a free site before it crashed and burned, and true.com has spent over 70 million the last 2 years and gone nowhere.

I agree the media is finally starting to clue in, and there is going to be a big battle coming. I am just happy i have 5 times as much traffic as all the other free sites combined.

Oh, and one other thing, Markus, sell now. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Within the next 12 months the market is going to be flooded with free dating sites that will each take a chunk out of a niche. Those chunks, while good for the sites, are not good for dreams of monopolies or huge marketshare.

Buzz is your friend, use it while you have it. In about one month it’s gonna be at a fever pitch for http://www.plentyoffish.com but that buzz is also going to give dozens of upstarts publicity as the media wakes up to the free dating market. This in turn will have the companies offering you big stacks ‘o cash now thinking about cheaper options. Those options are plentiful. “Spend 100 million over here on this buzzing site or spend 3 million over here plus 20 million in advertising for this scrappy upstart. Hmm…” It’s a no brainer. Sell now.

In the 90’s it was as unlikely your 8-10 year old would have a cell phone as it was your teenager would be getting stalked on the internet. Times are changing and we have to face realities. Parents are scared stiff about what is happening on myspace. Maybe these first “kids” sites will fail maybe they won’t but as a concerned parent I feel I have to look for alternatives. Safe alternatives.

You can’t just create a site for kids. If you’re at all serious, you have to segment by age group, which means at least 2 different sites, with age-appropriate functions and content. You also have to watch it like a hawk with real human moderators. This adds expense.

Second, kids already have a social network, it’s called school. If their friends aren’t involved; if the content everyone at school is talking about isn’t there — the kids won’t want to be there either. This is a big growth hurdle.

And revenue? Advertising to kids is a super-sticky business. There’s tons of government/private orgs waiting to pounce on your first misstep. Plus, your audience is going to be too small to really attract the big advertisers for a long time. So, you end up going the subscription route, which kills your growth rate (and any future hopes of attracting advertising).

My point is really that kids’ internet services are not a new concept (my comments come from my own experience with a children’s internet startup in the 90s). Lots of people have tried and failed. It’s way way harder than it looks.

Also, since MySpace has an “14 ” age requirement for it’s member population not to mention the fact that there is an enormous amount of adult oriented content being shared – where would you suggest kids go?

Our feeling is that we don’t foresee social networking disappearing any time soon – and we do see the age bell curve shifting back rapidly – that leaves us with the conclusion that there is a real market need.

This is confirmed by almost every parent with kids from 8-14 who are looking for destinations – blogging or otherwise – that are more “age appropriate” …we think we’ll be around longer than two years….

I have a 5 year old and all he wants to do on the web, indeed all we let him do on the web, is go to pbskids.org.

I have a hard time thinking about how old a child would have to be to find some interest in social networking. 8 or 9 years old, most likely 10. So given that MySpace is probably capturing kids when they are 12, the useful life of Industrious Kid is mayber 2 years?

Doesn’t seem to me that one can build a business on that type of runway.

So, why are you turning them down Markus? The answer to that holds more interest to me than the original article . . .