The YouTube Kids app now works with YouTube Red in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand, allowing subscribers to the service to watch children-friendly videos on the app free of paid ads.The move not only creates a smoother viewing experience for customers, it also helps address complaints that YouTubeKids is not as child-friendly as it should be. In May 2015, a group calling itself the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging that YouTube Kids had My Little Pony, Care Bear and Lego Friends videos that ran with ads hawking toys based on the characters, which is a violation of FTC rules.YouTube Kids users will now also be able to enjoy other benefits of the YouTube Red subscription through the app, including the ability to download videos to watch offline and access to uninterrupted ad-free music.Last fall, YouTube Kids added a customizable passcode option and the ability to turn search on and off to limit how broadly a child can explore content.
Over the next several months, YouTube Kids will be unveiling additional customizable parental control options.YouTube also announced today that August is Sports Month in the YouTube Kids app. An icon has been added to the top of the home screen inside the app giving users quick access to sports-themed content from creators including DreamWorks TV, Cosmic Kids Yoga and Lazy Town. The videos cover such topics as historic sports moments, inspiring role model athletes, sportsmanship, the importance of being active and trick shots. Executive Director and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Enthusiast Watch Part 2: The LEGO Boys’ Club LEGO announced that after 4 years of intensive research, they have finally come up with a LEGO product that fulfills the desires of “how girls naturally build and play.” This new theme is called LEGO Friends and it’s a pink and purple, gender segregated, suburban wasteland populated by Barbie/Bratz style dolls. Many parents, educators, feminists, and media critics have spoken out against LEGOs attempts to separate girls into their own stereotypical isolated enclave within the LEGO universe.
In part 1 of my two part LEGO and Gender series, I’ll explore how LEGO went terribly wrong with LEGO Friends and provide a brief history of LEGO’s ridiculous and slightly hilarious attempts to market to girls since the late 70’s. In part 2 I’ll delve into LEGO’s intentional strategy to market almost exclusively to boys since the mid 80’s by developing and marketing sets that are male identified and male centered. In conclusion, I’ll offer LEGO a couple of suggestions that they can consider when creating and marketing new products.New Lego Commercial Inspires Girls to Keep Building6 December, 2014 As part of their #KeepBuilding campaign, Lego has released this empowering new ad encouraging young girls to think creatively. The inspiring new commercial focuses on independence and problem solving, showing a young girl playing and building with her imagination and some truly constructive thinking. The ad comes at a time when other companies like GoldieBlox are tailoring their messaging to young girls in a way that promotes innovation and nurtures this audience as future engineers.
Lego’s new ad is perfect in tone, dismissing the gender cliches that often overwhelm the children’s toy market. While the ad feels refreshing and new, let us not forget that Lego has always been ahead of the times when it comes to depicting and respecting girls in their advertising. Remember the 1981 print ad below? Get the GeekDad Books!It's very possible that you've already heard about LEGO® Life over the past months, as it was rolled out in the UK late 2016. Today, however, we're really excited to share its official launch across 8 countries (U.S., U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Denmark, Austria and Switzerland), with availability in more countries to follow in 2017 and 2018. For those of you who don't know, LEGO® Life is a new, safe social network for kids under 13. The app based experience, available for iOS and Android, both on smartphones and tablets, will allow our younger LEGO builders to connect online with other young fans of the brick. Here they'll be able to share their creativity, be inspired, inspire others, take on challenges, and do much more in a fun and safe environment!
How do you play a part in LEGO Life? And that's where you, the LEGO Ideas community, come in. We're sure you're wondering why we are excited to tell you about a social network aimed at kids under 13, given that LEGO Ideas is for you 13+ builders. For starters, it shouldn't come as a surprise that we think that LEGO Ideas members create amazing work and that it's incredibly inspiring to browse the countless projects that are submitted everyday. We think kids all over the world would be equally, if not even more, inspired by the models that you all create and we're looking forward to 2017 where we will start sharing images of some of the awesome models that you've created on LEGO Life. Who knows, perhaps there's a kid out there who'll be inspired by your work or building techniques, and go on to create the next LEGO Ideas set in the future! In the mean time, go ahead and download the free app, available on iOS and Android, together with your kids to discover the many fun experiences it holds for them.
Download the LEGO Life app today /life, or check out the article from the LEGO Life team below. LEGO Group Launches LEGO® Life, a Safe Social Network for Kids Under 13 Building on its experience with nurturing communities and extending its expertise in developing quality, child-friendly digital play experiences, The LEGO Group today announced the launch of LEGO® Life, a safe social network for kids under the age of 13. The app-centered digital experience allows young LEGO builders of all levels and interests to connect with a community of like-minded peers to express their creativity, share their LEGO creations, interact with LEGO characters, and inspire one another. The experience launches today in the U.S., U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Denmark, Austria and Switzerland, with additional markets launching in 2017 and 2018. “The LEGO Group aims to develop digital experiences that complement and enhance LEGO play,” said Rob Lowe, head of LEGO Life. “LEGO Life creates a platform that amplifies the joy of building and pride of creation that kids experience with tactile play through the digital world in a safe way – further unleashing creativity among kids and tweens on a much broader scale.”
LEGO® Life Increases the Sociability and Personalization of LEGO Play LEGO Life bridges physical and digital play experiences, innovating on the best of today’s social network features to add a social layer to LEGO play. message boards to share stories and photos about LEGO building, a richer, more dynamic social media platform such as LEGO Life is a natural next step in the evolution of LEGO community engagement. “LEGO Life provides the platform where kids and tweens can take their LEGO creations and stories and give them the audience they deserve,” added Lowe. The LEGO Life app lets kids personalize their LEGO experience through direct interaction with their favorite LEGO characters, exclusive content, an in-depth 3D LEGO minifigure avatar creator, and fun building inspiration and challenges. LEGO Life also introduces a custom LEGO Emoji Keyboard with which kids and tweens can communicate about what they create in LEGO form, as well as comment on what their peers share.
“LEGO bricks are already established as a global visual language that kids understand and use to express themselves,” explained Lowe. “The LEGO Emoji Keyboard takes this personalization one step further with a keyboard of recognizable emojis augmented by stickers and phrases that let kids engage safely within LEGO Life.” According to global research that informed the development of LEGO Life, 90 percent of kids surveyed are aware of emojis and their use in communication. When asked if they use emoji icons, approximately 40 percent of kids said “yes.” By infusing a LEGO look and feel into familiar emoji vernacular, the LEGO Emoji Keyboard helps kids and tweens inspire and support each other even though their spelling and typing skills may be still developing. LEGO® Life is a Constantly Growing Source of Inspiration Similar to mainstream social media platforms, LEGO Life delivers a newsfeed customized to user preferences. The app encourages kids and tweens to identify and “follow” topics of interest so that their feed is populated with relevant images, challenges and more.
For example, kids can choose to follow groups dedicated to certain animals, vehicles, heroes, specific LEGO themes, seasonal programs or regional topics that they find most relevant. Additionally, LEGO Life provides kids and tweens with inspiration and mentorship in fun and engaging ways. LEGO Master Builders will share creations and issue a variety of building challenges within LEGO Life to encourage building and sharing among the community. Characters such as Master Wu from LEGO NINJAGO, Emma from LEGO Friends and LEGO BATMAN™ will share building inspiration and will appear within the app to comment on member builds. New features will be continually added to the experience. As the network grows and expands, users will find other ways to customize their LEGO experience, such as earning rewards for their engagement in LEGO activities and the ability to inventory their LEGO collection, among many other things. LEGO Life will also be available through many other LEGO touchpoints to enable as many LEGO fans as possible to experience its potential.
LEGO® Life is Safe and Secure LEGO Life is a safe social network for kids under 13. It is designed to be a child’s first digital social experience, taking users by the hand and introducing them to some of the core concepts of a social network, all through the trusted values associated with the LEGO brand. As detailed in the Digital Safety section of LEGO Life, participants’ safety is assured in several ways. LEGO Life prevents kids from sharing personal information, images, or anything that could allow users to identify and locate one another. For example, when a user creates an account, he or she uses the random name generator to create a silly 3-word mix for a display name, such as “DukeCharmingShrimp” or “ChairmanWilyDolphin.” In place of real or facial photos for LEGO Life profiles, users create their avatar by selecting the LEGO minifigure or minidoll of their choice, adding clothing, hair and more to create their virtual persona. All content and comments on LEGO Life are monitored by LEGO employees who specialize in moderation to ensure that it is LEGO Life-appropriate and child-friendly.
All moderators go through brand and child safety training, and the moderation team is located in LEGO offices around the world to ensure quality, always-on service. Use of the LEGO Emoji Keyboard replaces actual text when commenting on user-generated content. Commenting is tightly controlled and pre-moderated while emoji comments are post-moderated, keeping communication simple, universal, positive and fun. Adherence to the LEGO Safety Pledge and UNICEF Standards The LEGO safety pledge is a method for parents to talk to their children about digital safety while establishing a shared commitment to ground rules for online social behavior, and LEGO Life policies and procedures adhere to these ground rules. Additionally, LEGO Group has an ongoing partnership with UNICEF through which the company received guidance as to how to ensure child safety in developing LEGO Life. UNICEF and LEGO Group also partnered to develop a tool which enables companies to assess their current efforts around children’s digital safety.