Jitter Fingers -- Safe, social networking for tween/teen girls

Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this site bills itself as a "safe online social-networking environment for girls" -- and follows through on the promise. True, there are no age limits to join the Jitter Fingers communities (kids under 13 technically need their parents' permission to join, but all you need is an email address for the site to contact their parents). However, since the site's purpose is to create invitation-only groups with eight or less friends, there's little to no chance kids will come into contact with outsiders. In fact, even girls who register for more than one community can't link their school and dance team groups together to chat. So Jitter Fingers is safer than sites with open message boards and chat rooms: Its chat rooms hook up community friends, not all community members. Girls also can post information and opinions to public areas of the site, but Jitter Fingers approves all messages before they're posted. Families can talk about the need for safety checks and closed networks to protect identity. Why would it be dangerous to speak to strangers online and not in person? How can you protect yourself? What are some things that shouldn't be shared online? What's OK to divulge?

Review by Erin Brereton

JITTERFINGERS.COM was created to let girls design their own online hangout, and once they invite a maximum of eight friends to their private network, they may never look at the mall with quite the same joy again. In the beta version, users can send text messages through the site to their friends' phones, post (moderated) thoughts about TV shows, music, and fashion, or chat in a private room with other members of their network who are online. A scrapbook section lets girls post photos, or they can alert friends to upcoming events. And of course, because this site is for tweens and up, there are girly touches everywhere, like the Cute Band Alert posting area. The site also offers some light historical value in sections like Year in Entertainment, which showcases hip happenings that took place the year a member was born. However, Jitter Fingers isn't all fun and community-chatting games. The site also features some retail-based material, such as Emma's Coupon Closet, designed to be a clearinghouse for online sales and promotions. Likewise, the Gadget of the Week section gives a nod to items "you'd never find at a local mall."

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