The Right connect

Amitabh Bachchan

By Karan Shah

While the internet has made life easier for everyone and is considered a boon to mankind, children today are more tech savvy than what their parents were at their age and are increasingly getting dependent on it. For a child as young as three to four years, toys have made way to tablets, laptops and computers. While the easy accessibility of content makes it the most preferred tool of research, various companies compete with each other to grab cyber space. Innovative, interactive content across various digital platforms that offer a new experience have thus become the norm. Joining the fray is worldoo.com that claims to be India’s first online eco-system for kids. Introduced in April 2013, the relatively young site invites children, parents and educators to building a new-look platform in a never seen before initiative. The feedback campaign has been called ‘Let’s Build’ and aims to invite parents, children and educators across the country to speak about what they would like to see on the internet. “We’ve always wanted to provide a holistic experience for kids through worldoo.com; in-order to drive that promise of responsible internet for kids. We wanted it to be tailor made for the younger ones from the content to design says Monish Ghatalia, founder of worldoo.com. Amitabh Bachchan who is an avid blogger and is very active on various social platforms has been roped in as the face of this campaign. Talking about his association with worldoo.com, Bachchan in a press statement says, “The internet space is constantly evolving and has proved to be an exciting tool of communication. Today children are born with technology, preferring tablets to teddy bears! In such a scenario, Instead of shying away from it parents should embrace the role of the internet in their child’s life and need to collaborate and communicate with them to welcome them on the online world. The future is here. Like schools are an integral part of a child’s growth, the internet will play a significant role in developing the next generation of children.
While the site boasts of about 100,000 children as registered users, the team is now focussing on the need to further the cause of responsible internet usage. With internet usage rapidly growing, the need to police content therefore gains more importance. However, imposing restrictions are hardly the solution. Ghatalia “After a lot of trials and errors the answer was in the question of why and what goes onto the site. We were clear that we will ask kids, parents and teachers while working on the functionality and features of the new site.Today’s consumer does not seek to be ordered around as to what he should be doing, but rather likes his thoughts to be reflected by the brand that he engages with. Consumer relations have changed dynamically with the advent of the internet and social media. If we as a platform, dedicated to children don’t consider their opinion then the concept of engagement will fall flat. Our biggest USP is thus engaging the audience and captivating their thoughts in the form of new landmarks that will come up as per their liking on the platform.” Worldoo is currently going to 500 schools across India through which they should reach around 150,000 kids. They are additionally trying to understand children’s behavior in relation to the internet from teachers and parents. Divided into three sub-categories of Learn, Express and Play, participants of the feedback campaign can vote for what they would like to see in their all-new virtual world and can write their ideas in the Other Comments section. This campaign will also run across online and offline platforms by signing in on their site worldoo.com. But worldoo.com doesn’t stop there as Ghatalia mentions, “In the future, post the launch of the new website, we are also planning a merchandise store and animation series, hence licensing the brand. Our immediate aim, however is to be the most inclusive platform for kids where we become a hub for children who enter the world of the internet.” Here’s to a more enlightened future with parents no longer fearing what their child may stumble across on the world wide web.