Did Best Buy learn anything from Wal-Mart’s failed social network experience? Hopefully it did because it’s launching a social network … for teens.
The good news is that the site has a positive mission and seems to offer teens a place to talk about the upcoming election. An “About @15″ page is full of optimism and feel-good copy:
You are obviously key to the success of our stores. How would your parents know what to buy without you? You know us. You are important to us, but we also see that you are important to our communities, to our society, to our world.
We’re listening to you and want to support you and make sure you have opportunities to learn, to make a difference in your schools and communities, to build life skills and relationships.
Yep, we hear all the bad stuff about teens. People freaking out about drugs, gangs, drop outs and the rest. But we believe in you. Not because you’ll be 25 some day, but because you have special power to do great things and make the world better. Right now.
We see that power. We admire it. We don’t want to direct it. We just want to fuel it.
The bad news? How many teens will buy into this copywriter’s overkill and actually use the site? Not many, I’m afraid.
And it’s a bit discomfiting to realize that I can view profiles without logging in or registering. I read the profile of “Mai.Mai” — who posted the name of her school and the city she lives in. At the top of the page there’s a tab labeled “track” – even more creepy – where you can apparently track Mai.Mai’s postings on the site.
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