The Children’s Media Conference this year had a schedule packed with a digital agenda. Here are our top 20 key takeaways.
It goes without saying that kids want to feel like they are in a members only club just made for them. Whilst they join platforms open to anyone, they quickly create their own exclusive comms, terminology and rules for usage. This is they key reason Snapchat has exploded with 8-14s, because they feel safe posting any content without fear of repercussions – as all the content has a time limit and is then deleted.
Apple is no longer the phone of choice. Due to most kids having access to iPad, their phone of choice is anything that is not the same as mum and dad.
(Facebook)
Kids have it to use to organise events, but they much prefer to use other platforms, than a place where you aunt can comment on something saying how cute you are.
Unsurprisingly, Minecraft came up again and again…and again. If you want to know what kids are doing and what they like, play Minecraft.
Which leads us neatly on to the transition we are seeing as kids shift from being consumers of content, to creators. Minecraft is just one of many platforms that enable this (Youtube, Vine, Scratch etc)
Unsurprinsgly kids are now developing better app products than adults.
Michael Sayman created 4Snaps when he was 13 – Great photo app if you’ve not tried it – is now consulting at FB
Ethan Duggan – creator of Lazy Husband stock phrases – 12 years old & learnt at codeacadamy
Thomas Suarez who is 12 and created Bustin Jieber and has just done his first Ted talk…
My Fave – Nicholas Rubin16 year old creator of Greenhouse which is a google chrome plug in where you can hover over any politician in the USA and a pop up appears showing all the corporations they are receiving funding from; therefore exposing political corruption
All white males.
There was a very interesting session about responsibility of online platforms like Facebook, Youtube, Instagram etc, to ensure that their content is safe for kids, or at least work harder at preventing kids from accessing their platforms. As adults we often take the stance that children are vulnerable and naive, but more and more frequently we see that they are often more sophisticated than us when it comes to digital understanding.
This is Kid President. He has 1.2 million Youtube subscribers and has just signed his first book deal with HarperCollins.
As content creators for children, we DO have a responsible to educate kids about their online safety, digital footprint and help them understand the implications of their connected world. However, we mustn’t forget how sophisticated they are in many respects.
Film maker Beeban Kidron released InRealLife last September. The movie asks what exactly the internet and what is it doing to children? Taking us on a journey from the bedrooms of British teenagers to the world of Silicon Valley. It’s worth a watch, and with distributers Dogwoof about to give it a huge push for the DVD release – it’s also worth bearing in mind that all eyes will be on this continuous debate in the press.
A lot of the conference focused on the psychological effect of SM on kids. And the statistic is less funny than the photo. In research around Instagram, kids say that they feel judged and rejected if a their photo isn’t liked within 4 MINUTES
“Humans are learning machines, and games are teaching machines”. There isn’t much that can’t be taught effectively with games.
Teach Your Monster to Read is a phonics game developed in collaboration with the Usborne Foundation and takes the player on a fun journey of discovery that teachers the basics of phonics and reenforces the learning with increasingly challenging play and clever reward loops.
TyrAnt is a resource management, empire building game which teaches players about the ecosystem of ant colonies.
This is a book. And this is an App.
Make the most of the platforms capabilities. A iPad isn’t just another screen for the same content.
Nosy Crow are a small, independent company who have been on the scene since 2011 publishing child-focused, parent-friendly books but they have a particular focus on highly interactive apps for tablets and phones. They was a lot of hype around their beautiful reworking of fairytales and during the conference it was announced that Nosy Crow’s Little Red Riding Hood app has won the Booktrust Best Book Award in the Tech Stuff category. The award was voted for by actual children – so most interestingly is the fact that Little Red Riding Hood beat the iBook edition of David Walliams’ The Slightly Annoying Elephant.
A great example of how NOT to build an MVP. If you were building an MVP for a car - a product designed to get a person from one destination to another - a single wheel wouldn’t do the job. A skateboard, however, would.
Build your MVP’s with it’s core purpose in mind.
There is an expectation in the digital market that products will be updated and maintained. Generally, the apps that do well have shifted to a service model with content updates, two-way communication with customers, and a thriving and active ecosystem around them.
Vine = YouTube incubator – you have to get noticed on vine before you can graduate to YouTube
Push notifications tend to be something as adults we instantly turn off because we don’t like intrusion.
Kids are ALL about the push and are using them in an incredibly savvy way to stay on top of the myriad of platforms they use. They set up push notifications for all their fave tweeters so they don’t miss anything and they split push into genres. Something to bear in mind with any app marketing we do, as push notifications are optional. With kids they need to be well and truly enabled
A hit can come from anywhere. IP developers should be thinking about how to generate a brand on many platforms. Kids don’t distinguish between different screens when it comes to their favourite characters and worlds.
Is it the best of times or the worst of times? It’s easier than ever before to create great content and distribute it direct to consumers.
But, it’s also a very crowded market place, and consumers expect a lot for their money, or even for free. It’s harder than ever to make money from your content.
TV channels like Nickolodeon are already seeing a challenge around the value on TV advertising as more kids watch on demand on other platforms.
Discovery continues to be a challenge in the app space, however word of mouth and traditional marketing channels are still crucial and highly effective.
In the final Keynote Mind Candy launched PopJam, their new creative community for kids. Think of it as Instagram for kids, but packed full of stickers and visual assets that the child can use to create their images.
Later down the line they will roll out video and mini-games.