Kid-friendly sites screen videos for inappropriate material
— -- There are tons of great videos for your kids to watch on the Internet — and plenty that are totally inappropriate. Even Mom and Dad may initially have trouble determining which is which. Two video sites my children and I have been testing — ZuiTube and Totlol — can keep the small ones entertained while removing worry for parents.
Awhile back, my little girl wanted to watch Dora the Explorer videos on my laptop. I clicked on a Dora link through Google, and the familiar cartoon character appeared — only some idiot had dubbed in a foul-mouthed voice for Dora's, and it quickly became apparent that the video was unsuitable.
Parents and kids can avoid that scenario inside ZuiTube and Totlol. The video hubs promise only age-appropriate material. They're powered by YouTube, but operate independently. Parents can find these videos directly on YouTube. But ZuiTube and Totlol have collected safe kids-related stuff in one convenient destination.
ZuiTube was launched a week ago by KidZui, a San Diego start-up whose free child-friendly Web browser of the same name has been around nearly a year and a half. Aimed at 3- to 12-year-olds, the latest service is an offshoot of the KidZui browser, but you can access it from any browser. The site provides access to 60,000 YouTube videos that have been prescreened by parents and teachers.
Vancouver, British Columbia-based Totlol is similar. It boasts more than 23,000 YouTube videos. Totlol started out free in May 2008, but last month started charging $3 a month, $18 a year or $54 until your kid grows up. Founder Ron Ilan says it was "the only viable way to keep it going." (There's no advertising on either site.)
Ilan says parents should not be driven to sites designed for kids out of fear. I agree. "The diversity and user experience is what's important," he says.
By tapping into its own kid-safe subset of the YouTube universe, ZuiTube and Totlol hope to differentiate themselves from branded kids sites along the lines of Sesame Street or Nickelodeon. They're also different from a site such as KidsTube.com, where most of the videos are created by the 11,000 members, ages 5 to 13.
