Technology Slice Blog

Disney Buys a Social Network - The Walt Disney Company has just acquired Togetherville, a social-networking site aimed at 6- to 10-year-old children. When I first wrote about Togetherville, just before it launched in May 2010, I was impressed because it was one of the few sites aimed at preteens that shared Facebook's idea of a "real-name culture." The site requires children and their adult family members to say who they are. Unlike another Disney online children's property, Club Penguin, it's not about avatars and virtual worlds but about the child's real identity. The site lets kids connect with their friends and family members under the watchful eyes of their parents and offers games and videos for the younger set. Parents must be Facebook members to sign their kids up on Togetherville, and this makes it easy for them to start building their child's "online neighborhood" from people they and their children already know. Parents log in wit...