Parents' Guide to Franktown Rocks

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Common Sense Media Review

Dana Anderson By Dana Anderson , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 10+

Music and social networking combine in safe, cool hangout.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 10+?

Any Positive Content?

Parent and Kid Reviews

age 10+

Based on 3 parent reviews

age 9+

Based on 21 kid reviews

Kids say the website offers a mix of fun and educational experiences, allowing children to interact and learn in a virtual space, but it also has significant issues with cyberbullying and inappropriate language, prompting many parents to supervise their children's use. While some find it enjoyable, especially for its music feature, others criticize it for being boring and for requiring membership fees to access most features, leading to mixed feelings among users.

  • fun and educational
  • cyberbullying issues
  • membership required
  • boring for some
  • music features
Summarized with AI

What's It About?

Tweens who love music will love FRANKTOWN ROCKS, a social networking site that encourages kids to meet friends and learn about music through an eclectic but tween-pleasing G-rated collection of songs, games, videos, and virtual-world play. It's free unless you want to buy a Premium membership for better streaming, suped-up music choices, and other features (99 cents for a two-day pass, $5.99/mo.). You can also buy online money called Franks, which are used to purchase songs and other items in Franktown (but Franks can also be earned by playing games on the site for free).

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say ( 3 ):
Kids say ( 21 ):

Praised by Parents magazine as one of the "best of the next generation" of junior social networks, this site is safe, educational, and a crowd-pleaser. While some of the videos posted are kind of choppy and dull and the games could be more challenging, it's not really about the games and videos here. The Franktown virtual world is cute and safe. Yet the music selection is the big draw -- hip enough to grab tweens' attention while diverse enough to sprinkle in some encouraging music appreciation lessons.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about digital music creation. See our Parent Advice on Creating with Digital Media. You can also review our Club Penguin Tips for advice on navigating virtual worlds.

  • Whenever social networking is involved make sure kids know how to behave responsibly online. Check out our Social Networking Tips for a refresher.

Website Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by

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