Whateverlife

 Review

Common Sense Media says

Ambitious teen social network shows promise but needs work.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Not yet rated

Kids say

Not yet rated

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this social networking site for teens was started by a Michigan girl and her pals who enjoy designing Web sites. Though not quite finished, it already has too much advertising, and we accidentally saw what might be evidence that the site intends to sell members' information.

In all other ways, Whateverlife seems safe and wholesome enough, with a full set of social networking tools coupled with a download page for kids interested in HTML. Its bubbly teen female founder gives it a nice girl-power kind of vibe. However, it's still in beta, so parents will want to keep an eye on how the community grows, especially Cupid Mail, a promised email option that matches "compatible" members.

  • The site's name is a little confusing. Most kids will think it refers to the popular sarcastic comeback, "whatever." According to the founder's blog, it's a shortened version of a motto,  "whatever life you want to lead," a nicer message if kids get it. In any case, the site's small but supportive kid-programmer community can give kids, especially girls, the self-confidence to try Web design.      
  • Not applicable.
  • One old photo of Mark Wahlberg from his underwear modeling days, and come-hither profile photos of teen girls showing cleavage and kissing their boyfriends.
  • Liberal use of OMG. One "bitch."
  • This not-quite-completed site is already overloaded with ads. None of the products are objectionable but there are banners on most pages, Google text ads and ads users have to click through before accessing certain parts of the site. Even user profiles have ads, in our case a 15-second Woolite commercial and a large teeth whitener ad. Like most kids’ social networks, this one awards points kids can use to buy schwag at a virtual mall and even lets kids buy points, called WhateverBucks, with real money. That's not all: the site asks kids for cash donations to keep it going, PayPal accepted.  
  • Privacy seems excellent, at least on the surface. Kids can choose who sees every bit of personal information from join date to online status. Other great options: kids can choose to get email at a personal inbox instead of the site’s, delete their own accounts, even hide visits to others' profiles.  We're not sure how safe kids' information is from third parties, though. While signing up we were greeted with the odd message, "We care about the quality of our profiles and guarantee that every user of our system is real, so if you purchase someone's contact information, you can be sure that your money isn't wasted."  The site did not return an email asking about the message. Children younger than 13 need parents' emailed permission to join, but like most social networking sites, this one makes it easy for kids to lie about their ages.

Is it any good?

 

It's too soon to tell whether Whateverlife will blossom into another Miss O & Friends or stall like so many new social networking sites. It has a lot of potential -- certainly the tools, once working, will give kids plenty of ways to safely interact -- but it might need more compelling seed content than free wallpaper and Myspace code. 

Online interaction: The beta version of the site was very quiet when we visited in October 2009. The chat room was empty and the message board was not yet working. However, the few posts up, mostly requests for specific types of wallpaper and a handful of events, were friendly and positive.
 


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What families can talk about

  • Social networks are a fact of life for most kids because they're such a fun way to connect with friends. What should kids watch out for when they join a social network? Help them avoid them the pitfalls.

     

  • Many Web sites could not exist without advertising, but kids can be
    especially susceptible to marketing, especially if ads are intrusive or
    disguised as content.  Help kids see through the hype.


This review was written by Carla Thornton
Teen, 17 years old
May 2, 2011
 
Need to clean up a bit.
I think it's an ok site. The pictures and language is disgusting, though. I mean, I've seen people cussing up a storm when I got on there. And the girls show cleavage like there is no tomorrow. I think they should clean it up a bit.

Flag as inappropriate 
Adult
January 11, 2010
 
love it

Flag as inappropriate 
Kid, 13 years old
April 16, 2011
 
its okay for older kids i guess but the first thing that happened when i got there i saw a boy and gurl french kissing and it loooked sooooooooo gross!

Flag as inappropriate 

This review was written by Carla Thornton
This review was written by Carla Thornton

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About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.

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