Wal-Mart on the Web: Always low traffic. Always.
Wal-Mart, eager to get more teen shopping dollars, is diving into social networking, according to AdAge.com. But its first effort looks likely to get laughed out of school. The Hub (School Your Way) website features a choppy, distorted video of kids talking about clothes they just bought and invites teens to submit their own videos to win a prize. Teen critics like Amy Kandel say the site doesn't ring true: "Are these real kids?" she asked an AdAge.com reporter. ConsumerGeneratedMedia.com says Wal-Mart's site is the latest example of big brands like Coke trying to capture the popularity of user-generated content websites like YouTube.
But will Wal-Mart's create-your-own-video contest take off virally? Not likely. Today's kids are utterly savvy about the economics of peer production. Molly Morgan, 14, tells AdAge.com: "It, like, takes a lot of time, and it's not very likely you'll win." WALMART NEEDS TO GIVE KIDS MORE CREDIT
We launched tweenland.com - a true tween virtual community - about a month and a half before WalMart spilled out this �thing� - a/k/a "School Your Way" -on their haphazard subdomain. Our stats showed 187,000+ gross visits in the first 14 days post-launch. Obviously I have motive to pump Tweenland.com. But, the WalMart site is seriously misguided. I'm particularly taken aback by the dude who walks up to the unsuspecting stranger and asks how long his armpit hair is. Cool? Be on the lookout for a tween-size spoof . . . . I got my wig out. In reality, activity on our site shows that tweens are funny, polite and interested While our site is fully moderated and constantly monitored, we have had little or no trouble with members or those posing as members. The kids on our site are actually a good - and growing bunch who know better than to unsuspectingly hand over their demographic and marketing information under the guise of �expressing� themselves.. WalMart ought to take note and give their audience a little more credit. Tony Zinnanti Tweenland.com Adult Admin Paperless Commerce, Inc. 27433 Tourney Road, Suite 160 Valencia, California 91355-5601 E-Mail: adz@paperlesscommerce.com Telephone: 661.309.3011 It will never fly. Walmart is as Un-hip as you can get and no amount of Windown dressing can change that.
They need to stick to their core market. 
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