Website Review: Piczo.com
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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this creative site is yet another
free teen social networking destination where kids can come
across some hurtful and unsafe content: sexual banter and
language, images with weapons or violent innuendo, and name
calling and swearing. The personal pages usually stick to
routine teen topics like dating, pets, and friends and have
insightful commentary on social issues such as racism and
religion. But, others host sexual photos, personal
identification information, and commentary that isn't kosher.
There's also some banner ads and solicitations for collecting
marketing data.
Families can talk about Internet safety. Once you read through the site's thorough safety page, you can discuss why Internet safety rules still apply on sites like these that promote themselves as "safer." What are the benefits of invitation-only networking? Does invitation-only make a site completely safe? Families can also talk about the pages other teens have created on the site. What do you like or dislike about each one?
Common Sense Media Review
The mega popular PICZO.COM provides teens with free tools to
build personal Web sites and meet other teens. Members can post
photos, video, text (glitter text, too!), and interactive
elements including quizzes and chat logs on their sites.
The company bills itself as a "safer online environment for teens… empowering teens to build their own personal online communities to share their ideas and experiences with their friends around the world." The site even partnered with WiredSafety.org (an online safety and help group) to create lengthy safety guidelines.
Guidelines are clear about what shouldn't be posted on personal sites. But, how closely monitored or enforced those guidelines are is questionable. At least site rules state that parents can remove their underage kid's inappropriate content or access to the site. Kids (or adults) can also click on the "abuse links" on any page to report inappropriate stuff, and the home page links parents, teachers, or anyone else with the site's administrators.
Even though the tools to create a site on Piczo.com are simple and the personalization options are vast, the quality and content on each user's site varies. Some sites stick to routine teen topics like dating, pets, and friends and include insightful commentary on social issues such as racism and religion. Other users post sexual photos, personal identification information, and commentary that isn't kosher. And, as on most teen social networking sites, some chats include hurtful, rude, sexual, and inflammatory language.
The good news is that kids can password protect their site so only people they give a password to can check it out. The bad news is that kids can link to other kids' sites that may contain content that shouldn't be out in the open for all to see.
For other teen social networking sites, check out Facebook.com or MySpace.com.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
