What Kids Can Learn from Playing in Virtual Worlds by Audrey Watters

There are over 1 billion users of virtual worlds, online communities where users have avatars and participate in various simulated environments. Even more impressive than that number: roughly half of those virtual world users are under age 15.

Photo: MindShift

With a number of news stories lately about kids under 13 on Facebook (violating the social network’s terms of service), you’d think there weren’t any other social networking sites that were geared for kids or where kids wanted to be. But clearly that’s hardly the case, and there are many social networks, gaming sites and virtual worlds aimed at the under 13 set: Club Penguin, Whyville, and Webkinz to name just a few. (Here’s a list of eight social media sites just for kids.).

As always, parents should make sure they know where and what their kids are doing online. The best virtual worlds offer reporting features for parents and keep in contact with them should any problems arise. They also allow parents to enter alongside their children.
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Source: MindShift