Monday, September 29, 2008

Unique Online Community for Girls

If you haven’t heard about or seen NewMoonGirls.com, you have got to check it out right away—especially if you have tween or teenage daughters.

Full disclosure: I was one of the co-founders of the company doing this site—New Moon Girl Media, which has won SEVEN Parents Choice Foundation gold awards for its New Moon Girls print magazine—which is edited BY and for girls 8-12.

They have done an unbelievable job with this site. The foundation was laid by a group of tween and teen girls themselves, and you can instantly tell that this is a safe place for girls to be themselves, create, have fun--and be sheltered from the marketing culture’s crap that young girls have to swim through ever day.

The site is less than a month old (and still in beta), but Common Sense Media is already praising it as “a stellar online destination for girls 8-12.” (See www.commonsensemedia.org/website-reviews/NewMoonGirls.html)

Just so you know, it’s NOT a social networking site like MySpace or Facebook. Unlike those sites, NewMoonGirls.com doesn’t allow girls to post personal information and all comments are moderated by well-trained adults. Basically, NewMoonGirls.com is a safe (and advertising-free!!) forum for tween girls to post writing, video, audio, artwork--and then share them (or not) as they please, and comment on other girl’s creative efforts.

New Moon Girl Media also has a blog for older girls, called orb28, which is itself a fascinating place for teenage girls to visit—although it isn’t as fully developed yet as the site for younger girls.
Every parent I've heard from says that their tween girl loves the site...and that's the true test of whether it's good for your daughter or stepdaughter.

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