Kid-Friendly Web Browser KidZui Launches Social Networking Features.

From what I can tell so far, Kidzui is doing everything right. What may be ‘wrong’ at least in the eyes of a gaggle of commenters on TechCrunch is the concept.

As we used to say in the ad biz “bad concept, great execution.”

KidZui is a kid-friendly web browser that recently introduced a suite of social networking features designed for kids aged 3-12.

Yup, that’s right. Ages 3-12. Add Kidzui to the growing list of kid-centric social networking sites: TotSpot, L’ilgrams, Kidmondo, Odadeo, most of which are designed for Mom and Dad’s fervent desires for tweeting, posting and friend requesting about their kids.

According to TechCrunch, KidZui launched last March as a subscription service but switched over to a freemium model just a few months later. So far, 1.5 million objects (videos, pages, photos, etc) have been whitelisted and “hundreds of thousands” of kids and parents have started to use the service. KidZui’s conversion rate for website visitors has doubled since switching over to a freemium model in June. And the average user watches 80 videos per week – a much greater number than an average of 21 photos, which suggests that KidZui is starting youth off early for YouTube as well.

Guru’s Take: Aside from the obvious safety concerns over an online area aimed at kidlets, and which Kidzui seems to be managing well, much of the controversy centers on the same-old issue: how young is too young for kids to be online? Given the state of obesity in our country, shouldn’t these pinging and posting 4 year olds be outside playing Capture the Flag and sweating off their Hot Pockets? And what about socialization? Shouldn’t the rough n tumble be face to face, rather than virtual? Does electronic socialization have the same play value? And what about Mom and Dad simply parking their 6 year old in front of the (unsupervised) computer to meet up with his e-friends? I’d love to hear what you think. (And are those 80 videos per week all talking cats?)