Disney Wants Kids Under 10 To Use Their Social Network

If Disney’s plan works, kids may soon be friending each other on a Facebook-like site as soon as they can write. TechCrunch reports the company just bought the site Togetherville, a social network for kids under 10, for an undisclosed sum.

Togetherville looks like other social networking sites, but allows parents to closely monitor who their child is connecting with online. Friends must be approved by parents, and there’s a way for parents to connect through Facebook. According to TechCrunch:

Parents can easily interact with their kids in Togetherville, while kids have their very own social community and login to engage with friends, play games, watch videos, and create art. Children create “neighborhoods” from Facebook friends, and can connect through School Communities, which allows parents and kids connect with school friends without requiring the parents to be connected via Facebook.

4-year-olds connecting online seems pretty unnecessary, as they don’t need to share hilarious web comics or check each other’s relationship statuses. But, maybe that’s just the old fogey in me talking. Since kids want to do whatever adults are doing, the development of a kiddie social network isn’t so surprising (and neither is Disney snatching up the site). It’s a bit freaky to watch a 2-year-old tapping away on an iPhone game, but maybe we should enjoy this time. In a few years, it will probably seem quaint that kids today weren’t obsessed with posting photos of their classmates and writing status updates about what mom packed for lunch.