James Andrews: June 2011

Monday, June 20, 2011

A new school for 30 under-30 marketers opens at the Cannes Lions festival. But can creativity be taught in a week?

The Cannes Lions was once an event solely for advertising creatives. But it's been drawing more and more marketers who want to get schooled in brand creativity. This influx of clients, which began in 2003, caused much fretting--all those suits were going to ruin the loose (and often debauched) vibe of the festival. Then it dawned on Cannes veterans that it?s probably a good thing that the people in control of ad budgets were showing an interest in being more "creative."

And this year the Cannes Lions festival has quietly formalized its role as a school for marketers. At the pinnacle of this transformation is the Creative Academy For Young Marketers, a newly launched week-long educational program for brand custodians to absorb the lessons of advertising?s brightest minds and take action when they return to their jobs. The Academy is free, but enrollment is limited to 30 students who are under 30 years old.

The question is, can creativity be taught?

The headmaster of the new program is one of marketing?s biggest names: Jim Stengel, former global CMO of Procter & Gamble (pictured above). Stengel is now an adjunct professor at UCLA?s Anderson School of Marketing, the CEO of The Jim Stengel Company, where he consults with major brands, and author of an upcoming book called Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World?s Greatest Companies. His teaching assistants--Suzanne Tosolini, a consultant and former P&G marketing director, and Sanjay Sood, an associate professor of marketing at UCLA Anderson--are no slouches either.

The inaugural semester here on the banks of the Mediterranean includes marketers from Dell, Unilever, Kraft, Yum Brands, P&G, SAB Miller, Visa and the Russian telecom giant MTS. Students, whose titles include Brand Manager, Product Manager, Brand Awareness and Identity Manager and Brand Building Director, come mainly from the U.S. and across Europe (one is from HSBC Indonesia). All of them are at the Cannes festival for the first time.

The program consists of talks from Stengel, presentations from agency and other industry players and a curated selection of panels from the main Cannes agenda. A presentation by TBWA CMO Laurie Coots, for example, covers writing creative briefs, another by Rob Guenette, CEO of agency Taxi deals with agency-client relationships. Deutsch CEO Mike Sheldon covers the same topic by way of a case study of the making VW's "The Force" spot. Tim Armstrong and Arianna Huffington will talk about digital media, and a group of marketers including Marc Mathieu of Coke will discuss the "Characteristics of Winning Global Brands." Each day will end with a debrief where students discuss their issues. At the end of the week, Stengel will conduct a longer debriefing session that includes an action plan from each student on what they intend to do when they return to their brand duties.

?We want to create a community this week,? says Stengel. ?We will follow up after this event on how they?re doing on their commitments.?

None of which can hurt, certainly. For companies with hidebound processes and siloed structures, creative blockage is a larger cultural issue. Stengel knows this better than most.

"Structure follows strategy," says Stengel. "And so many companies are dealing with a structure that?s not right for today." And his young students are expressing the frustrations of working within those structures.

"We?re hearing from the students that companies are willing to invest money to experiment in R&D but few will invest to experiment in marketing," says Sood.

But it?s clear that many companies are attempting to address the creativity gap. Marketers are aware of the larger discussion about creativity and innovation as drivers of growth; the simple fact that they are investing to send, in some cases, five people to a program like this (one marketer wanted to send 30 people, says Stengel) is further proof of the general will to change.

And there are few people more knowledgable about changing corporate culture and attitudes toward marketing than Stengel. During his seven years at P&G, Stengel became known as a change agent, and raised the creative profile of the company, while helping to lift the packaged goods giant out of a significant business slump. Once considered a creative death sentence, P&G became one of the most awarded marketers, winning Advertiser of the year at Cannes in 2008. It was Stengel who first approached Wieden+Kennedy about working on Old Spice (the brand behind one of the most famous campaigns of recent years, winner of a Cannes Grand Prix in 2010 and a shoo-in for another one this year). Stengel sums up his stint by saying that he helped turn P&G ?into a more empathetic company.?

Stengel points to three main challenges for companies in harnessing creativity: "First, companies and agencies are all set up in silos," he says. "We need to break them up and integrate them in a new way." Second is "re-framing how you?re thinking about your business and your brand" and "having a purpose or ideal." He points to the example of Pampers, a brand that tripled in size during his tenure at P&G due to an initiative that cast the diaper-maker as a baby care resource for parents. Third is measurement. His advice: just do it.

"People say measurement is an issue; I don?t think it is. You just try stuff and measure it. It?s not that hard. There are a lot of ways you can measure the emotion tied to business."

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Prepping Your Team for an Acquisition

While the deal makes sense on paper, you know it's never that easy to pull off, which is why you'll need your management team prepped to make it happen as smoothly as possible.

Your business, unlike your competition, is doing well and growing. Or, perhaps your growth has reached a lull and you'd like to rectify that. In fact, everywhere you turn you see opportunity—something you'd like to capitalize on by acquiring another company that will expand your product or service in some way. However, buying a business is never as simple as it sounds.

"Integrating an acquired business is always a challenge, and poor integration is the leading factor for a failed acquisition," says Neil Shroff, managing director of Orion Capital Group in Menlo Park, California, who has been a part of some 50 acquisitions on both sides of the ledger. "In most cases, the strategy people on the buyer's side have [results in] a difficult time demonstrating to middle and upper management why this deal makes strategic sense, especially if they were left out of the decision-making and planning process. It's like buying a brand new shiny red $200,000 Ferrari without telling your spouse and then trying to explain how he or she is going to love driving it."

The key to successful integration, Shroff says, is getting your management team involved in planning properly for what happens after the deal is closed. In other words, buyers tend to get stuck thinking about how to close the deal rather than thinking ahead in terms of how they plan to integrate their new acquisition so that it can deliver on all the spreadsheet promises. Waiting makes sense at one level because many buyers want to wait until the deal closes and "the ink is dry," says Shroff, before they spend the time and social capital involved in completing the merger. But waiting too long can spell disaster as you could face a full-scale revolt from a management team that feels something has been dumped in their laps. That means, therefore, that to pull off a successful acquisition with the help of your entire team, you'll need to walk a fine line between starting too early or waiting too long to get everyone's buy in.

Shroff says it makes sense to wait until you think it's about 50 percent certain that the deal will go through (you should be well past the letter of intent/term sheet stage, for instance) before beginning your full-court press to get your entire team involved in making the acquisition a success.

What follows are some other pointers from Shroff on how you can prepare your management team to buy a business:

Go Downstream
When you're confident the deal is going to happen, it's time to start looping in the people that will be managing the new business on the details of when and how the deal is going to be completed. When you have their buy-in, the planning downstream is likely to go more smoothly.

Be Transparent
When talking to your managers, be crystal clear about the strategic reason(s) you're making the acquisition. This will enable them to understand why the acquisition is critical to the current and future success of both companies.

Use Incentives to Maintain Focus
When an acquisition looms, it can take your management team's focus away from running the day-to-day business. One solution can be to create incentives, financial or otherwise, that will reward your managers for meeting both short- and long-term goals associated with the performance of the acquisition.

Unleash the Hounds
If you were waiting for any one stage at which to get your management team actively involved in the acquisition, let it be the stage at which you begin the due diligence, the nitty-gritty analysis of whether the potential acquisition is all that its owners claim it is. There are a few areas in particular where your managers can shed light on problems or future liabilities that, tackled early, could save your company countless dollars and headaches.

IT: One of the reasons a deal may not be successful is that the cost of standardizing IT platforms across both companies and retraining one of the companies may make integration too costly. That's why you'll want to put your IT manager on the case to evaluate the compatibility between the two systems.HR: Another reason an integration may fail is because of a mismatch in corporate cultures. "Corporate cultures are very difficult to change and so it is important to ensure the two companies are similar," says Shroff, which is why it's so valuable to get your HR managers involved. Another key strength they'll bring is the ability to analyze how personnel at both companies are compensated. If the target company employees currently receive higher compensation than your employees, for instance, a significant cut in pay or benefits might prompt them to leave after the acquisition. If the target company employees currently receive lower compensation that your employees, a significant raise will shrink the net profit of the target company. If payrolls aren't too out of line, however, you can then have your HR management team put a plan together to even the differences out.Accounting: Your accounting managers will be able to determine if extra people or software are needed to bring the acquisition's books up to your own accounting standards. That's an important question to assess because the extra cost of people or software would need to be invested by your company after the deal closes. Operations: "It is important for the operations people to understand how the company is going to be managed after the acquisition," says Shroff, which means getting them to answer questions such as, "Will the facilities of the two companies merge or remain separate? This is an important consideration in determining if there are excessive employees or managers after the acquisition and where the space will come from if the facilities merge.Sales and Marketing: Getting your sales and marketing representatives involved in the acquisition process is essential because these are the people that will be selling the new products or services that come with the new company. That means you'll need to assess their buy-in by getting them to answer questions such as: Do they feel they can sell the new products or services with the existing ones? Are there benefits of selling them together? Does the new company hurt your brand?

Shroff suggests leaving ample time after you have agreed to a purchase agreement to allow your management team to get involved in the analysis process. "While there is some risk with this, it allows the buyer to be fully prepared on their integration actions once it has been announced to the world and the employees," he says, adding that you also need to make sure that you make time to discuss with IT, HR, Accounting, Operations, and Sales managers each of their specific plans on how they plan on integrating the respective functions of the new company.

Because acquisitions can be very complex and time-consuming, Shroff also suggests that some companies might benefit from hiring an outside adviser who can help shepherd them through the stickiest of steps in closing a deal and then help iron out any wrinkles that might arise as the two companies begin to merge.

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The WaterWheel Makes Clean Water Cheaper, Easier To Carry

The Hippo Roller has made life easier for thousands of water-starved people--but it's very expensive. The WaterWheel--designed to solve the water crisis in India--is the next generation of wheeled water carriers.

WaterWheel

Not everyone can just turn on the tap to access clean water; in the developing world, women regularly carry five-gallon, 42-pound buckets of water on their heads. The Hippo Water Roller, a device that allows users to easily roll 24 gallons of water along the ground, has made life easier for over 30,000 people in the past 15 years--while becoming something of a cause celebre. But the device isn't cheap--it retails for over $100, which means that some of the people who need it most can't afford to buy it (communities often rely on sponsorship funding).

So there is an opening for the WaterWheel, a similar device that allows users to roll 25 gallons of water at a time--and it retails for much less, between $20 to $30. Unlike the Africa-focused Hippo Roller, Wello (the hybrid social benture behind the WaterWheel) is aiming for distribution in India, which also has a water-starved population but higher-quality manufacturing facilities.

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"The magic is in the business model," says Cynthia Koenig, founder of Wello. "It's not necessarily so much cheaper than other products on the market, but our business model is aiming for profitability through scale." Wello has thin margins, but the venture expects to break even after three years of operation through both sales of the WaterWheel and sales of advertising space on the device.

Wello is hoping to get the word out by partnering with local nonprofits, governments, and oddly enough, the Indian postal system. "Postal workers are encouraged to sell and distribute products, and they know everyone in the community," says Koenig.

Even with such a low price point, Koenig acknowledges that many people still won't be able to afford the WaterWheel. So she anticipates training a corps of local water delivery people who can make enough money from wheeling water back to their villages to pay for the device.

Wello plans on piloting the WaterWheel in Rajasthan, India in the next few months. And while the nonprofit has a long way to go before it can catch up to the Hippo Roller's sales, there can never be too many creative solutions to help the nearly one billion people who don't have easy access to clean water.

[Images: Josh Dick Photo (original prototype), Wello (latest design)]

Reach Ariel Schwartz via Twitter or email.

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Building the Future

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New Adobe Flash Builder lets devs make iOS, Android, PlayBook apps

Adobe on Monday announced the availability of Flash Builder 4.5 and Flex. 4.5, a pair of tools that let developers easily code applications for iOS, Android and the BlackBerry PlayBook. Adobe’s tools now provide developers with a single platform for building apps across each of the three popular mobile operating systems. ?The reaction from developers to the new mobile capabilities in Flash Builder 4.5 and the Flex 4.5 framework has been absolutely fantastic,? said Adobe’s VP of developer tooling, Ed Rowe, said in a statement. ?They are amazed by how easy it is to create great mobile apps for Android devices, BlackBerry PlayBook, iPhone and iPad. Companies can now effectively reach their customers no matter what type of device they

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Competition: Win one of three Google Chromebooks

Last month at Google I/O Google officially unveiled the new Chromebooks from Acer and Samsung — the first of a totally new kind of device that will utilise the web-based Chrome OS in series of slim line stylish shells that will be available through online retails for the first time on June 24th.

To celebrate the arrival of the new Google Chromebooks we at T3 have teamed up with the folks at Google to give you the chance to win one of three Chromebooks. To stand a chance of winning one of these great new Chromebooks simply follow the link and solve Google’s craftily designed puzzle.

How to Get Unstuck

With the deadline for an important business-related opportunity looming, I began my day today with a sinking sensation in my heart and stomach. I have been tossing ideas around for well over a week now, and none of them stood out. Where will I begin? How can I put a unique spin on this project? Am I going to lose this opportunity? I was stuck, clearly and simply stuck.

Now this is just the sort of thing that I help my clients with each and every day. I am the queen of getting "unstuck!" One would think that getting unstuck would be easy for me. Not always. Not today.

I was inclined to get straight to my office this morning so that I could push my creative abilities to the max. But haven’t I already done that? The struggle within me was so strong that it was zapping my energy and I just wanted to climb back into bed. But my stubborn side won out, and I threw on some old clothes to head out with the dogs, hoping that we could all work off some nervous energy.

When we are feeling stuck it’s not always easy to transition the mind to a calm and still place. The temptation to think harder and allow the stress to elevate is almost like an addiction. But as soon as my feet hit the ground with nothing but grass, a lake, and the sky surrounding me, I was offered a gentle reminder that I could choose to let go of my worry.

Worry creates resistance to calmness and confidence and is a speedy path to the Land of Stuck, as I call it. The more we resist, fight, and worry, the deeper into the quicksand we go. The answers cannot possibly penetrate that thick, murky sludge that holds the creative mind captive. With that reminder, I was able to quickly let go of my frustration and self-doubt in absolute faith that the answers would come. I walked those fields thinking only of the good in my life, increasing my sense of peace and confidence. I knew, without a doubt, that I would arrive at my desired destination, this place of letting go of resistance and allowing the answers to arrive as and when they will.

And arrive they did! Once I found myself in this state of allowing, my energy was restored, and creativity and logic flowed once again. So it was with great relief and joy that I piled the dogs back into the Jeep with my next steps clearly defined. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," I said. Whew! Rescued again!

I had many choices before me as I rolled out of bed this morning. I could continue to worry and fret, crawl back under the covers, give up altogether, or open my mind to all of the endless possibilities. We all have those choices when faced with challenge. And we are not always going to make the most productive, healthy choice, but that’s just another lesson, isn’t it?

So how can you still your mind and step into an open-minded state so that the answers will come to you more easily and effectively? If you are well-rehearsed in this mindset I hope this serves as a simple reminder for you. If you have the tendency to live in a place of struggle and resistance, here are a few simple steps to begin your journey away from the Land of Stuck.

Make a practice of expressing your gratitude for the simple, every day things in life. First thing in the morning and last thing at night, remind yourself of all of the good in your world. Take a two or three minute break several times a day to simply clear your mind. Take in several deep breaths, moving the air all of the way into your solar plexus and exhaling through your mouth. Practice this process several times a day and soon your mind, and body, will begin to get the message!Write your "problem" down on a piece of paper, acknowledge that you will solve the problem with ease and set the paper aside. This is a symbolic reminder that as you let go of the issue your mind will clear and the solutions are free to find their way in. Now this differs from pushing your problems away and going into a state of denial; pretending your problems don’t exist will not solve anything. The key here is to step into a place of knowing that the answers are there for you always and of allowing the space for them to arrive. Take in the beauty of nature. Surrounding ourselves with something larger and grander than we are is a wonderful reminder of how small our problems truly are. A shift of perspective is in order when we are struggling and nature’s beauty is one sure way to achieve it. Nature doesn’t think; it just is.Remove yourself from the problem by taking in a good work out so that you expel your energy in a productive, healthy way. A good workout will clear your mind, like an eraser on a chalkboard. Choose the next best feeling. If you are feeling frustrated and overwhelmed you will not be productive and you certainly won’t be creative. But to expect yourself to feel joyful and accomplished in a moment’s time may be unrealistic. So take a step up the emotional scale to the next best feeling. Take a few deep breaths and consciously choose a new state of mind, a different mood. If you are feeling frustrated you might be able to move into “slightly annoyed,” yet calmer. This will allow you to sort out the next step or two, and put the puzzle pieces together with greater ease and continue to improve your mood.

What tips do you have for releasing your resistance and stress to move into a state of allowing? How do you tap into your creativity and productive problem-solving mode when you are overwhelmed and fearful? Share with us here!

If you have a difficult time letting go of your stress check out this simple process that I call, "Transforming Your Stress."

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HP Veer 4G Review - Getting Us Excited for Pre 3

We touched on the Veer when it first hit our doorstep with a this just in post, and since then I’ve been using the device daily and trying to get an understanding for where it fits in both HP’s vision for WebOS and the greater scheme of things among all smartphones. The Veer’s launch is quite honestly a puzzling one. Usually launches are top down - launch the big flagship first, then reduced size and price ‘lite’ editions afterward that build off the flagship’s success and appeal to niches that aren’t served by the primary device either due to cost or size. For that reason, the Veer launch initially seemed a bit backwards, but factor in HP’s desire to get excitement for WebOS 2.0 started and ignite interest for the Pre 3, and things begin to make sense. We've spent the last few weeks using the Veer and are ready to share our thoughts with a full review.

Read on for the whole scoop on the HP Veer 4G.

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A Country Without Credit

The Financial Times follows Inc.'s Argentina story with its own take on the country, focusing on the difficulty businesses have raising money:

With a small stock market where institutional investors have been in short supply since the nationalisation of pension funds in 2008, and few angel investors or venture capital funds, the traditional source of seed capital is what is known as FFF: friends, family and fools.

'There is no culture of investment. People stick their money under the mattress, they don't put it to work,' says Leo Piccioli, who used to work at Officenet, a stationery and supplies start-up bought in 2004 by Staples, the US office supply chain store, and is now that company's Argentina country manager.

I interviewed the founders of Officenet for my article—along with many others—and heard much the same thing. The FT presents the lack of investment capital as a cultural problem, but I think that's only part of the story. Argentines don't refrain from investing solely because it's in their cultural DNA; they refrain because the country has been plagued by instability. For all but the richest people, investing a lot of money is simply too risky. From my story:

The country ranks 115th on the World Bank's Doing Business index and 138th on the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom, thanks to a tangle of taxes, tax credits, subsidies, prohibitions, exemptions, and delays. These rules change constantly, aren't enforced uniformly, and are forever subject to bending or breaking if a bribe is paid. And almost everybody pays: Transparency International ranks Argentina 105th in terms of corruption, worse than famously corrupt countries such as Mexico, Egypt, and Liberia.

I know it's not popular to say in 2011, but compared to places like Argentina, the U.S. remains a pretty good place for a middle class person to start a company:

American entrepreneurs are blessed...Our country has so far escaped the cancers of uncertainty, mistrust, and cynicism. We may complain about taxes, but the vast majority of us pay what we owe. Our country has low inflation and sane regulations. The Argentine entrepreneurs I met see America as a model of efficiency and stability. They keep their money in U.S. bank accounts, buy apartments in New York City, and take their kids to Disneyland. Argentines see America as a country that works.

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Asus ROG G53JW-IX162V review

Asus might've been copying notes from Alienware's design team but that's no bad thing if it means it designs a rock solid 3D gaming laptop. It doesn't quite have the all black rubberised class and feels cheaper despite costing more. However, those two massive exhaust fans at the back are nearly as cool and quiet as Alienware's M17x3D and it is as ridiculously powerful. Oh yes and the keyboard glows different colours as well.

Asus ROG G53JW-IX162V: Design

Like Alienware, the 3D solution has NVIDIA's active shutter glasses and an integrated receiver in the guts of the laptop. That's particular good on this model because it doesn't need the extra hardware on the outside. The massive fans at the back mean Asus had to cram the ports at both sides - Asus even had to add the card reader at the front.

Asus ROG G53JW-IX162V:

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Processor: 1.73 GHz, Intel Core i7 740QM
Memory: 8GB installed/ 8GB upgradable
Storage: 640GB
15.6-inch Screen: 1366x768 LED display
Graphics: 1.5GB GeForce GTX 460M
Battery Life: 112 minutes

Asus ROG G53JW-IX162V: Specs

Despite some issues, the Asus ROG G53JW-IX162V can talk the talk. It is eye-wateringly expensive but you get solid specs with Intel's Core i7-740QM processor running at 1.73GHz, a huge 8GB of memory, a 640GB hard drive and 1.5GB of GeForce GTX 460M graphics. You also get Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and these specs added up to serious power.

Asus ROG G53JW-IX162V: Performance

The lower screen resolution meant the Asus ROG G53JW-IX162V sailed through next generation 3D games. We'd love to see what this could do in 3D on a full HD screen because it romped in with over 40FPS on Call of Duty: Black Ops at 1366 x 768. We even got 52FPS with everything maxxed on 2D. Shame about the average 112 minutes battery life.

Posted by Spencer Dalziel

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Sunday, June 19, 2011

Tutorial: How to fix Mac hardware problems

If you've got problems connecting hardware to OS X, you're in the right place.

Here's our guide to the most common Mac hardware issues you might encounter - the biggest questions and, hopefully, some useful answers.

"My Mac won't recognise new external hardware"

Assuming your Mac meets the system requirements for whatever kit it is, have you checked all the wiring's okay? You might want to try hooking it up with a different lead and (where possible) port on your Mac.

Will the device work with another Mac? Are the lights on the device coming on? If not, there may be some problem with the hardware or its power adapter.

If you're sure that all the wiring is okay, you might want to check that you installed the driver software? Even if something says it'll work without drivers, it's often best to install them anyway. Furthermore, the version that you got in the box may be an old one, so go to the manufacturer's website and see if there's an update available.

Old drivers can also conflict with new, so see if you can find an uninstaller for the old version before you install the new. This is particularly important if the software that comes in the box is for an older version of OS X than you're running. And it may seem obvious, but have you tried restarting?

"My PC won't read my USB stick or external drive"

external drive

That's probably because it's formatted for the Mac, and therefore Windows won't be able to read this. To be able to plug the stick into a PC, it will need to be FAT or NTFS formatted. The former is preferable, because your Mac can't write to NTFS disks without special software (such as $20 NTFS for Mac, on the cover disc).

To format a drive as FAT, open Disk Utility in Applications/Utilities/ select the drive on the left, click Erase and select MS-DOS (FAT) from the top drop-down. Remember that formatting a drive will wipe everything on it, so back things up first!

When it's done, you'll see the Format information at the bottom has changed to FAT16 (for drives under 512MB) or FAT32 (anything over 512MB).

"My Apple TV remote interferes with my Mac"

This is really annoying, isn't it! You can pair up an Apple Remote with your Mac or Apple TV by holding it close to the sensor and pressing Menu and Right/Fast Forward for at least six seconds until you see two linked loops appear on the screen. This will stop that device listening to other remotes, but the remote in question will still control other kit.

The way to prevent this is either to pair each device with an individual remote, or to disable the infrared sensor on your Mac, which you do in System Preferences > Security >General. You can't disable the infrared sensor on an Apple TV or Universal Dock.

To unpair a remote, incidentally, hold down Menu and Left/Rewind for at least six seconds while holding any remote close to an enabled infrared sensor.

How to solve DVD drive issues

You may hear the disc spinning fast, then slowing down again, but never appearing on your desktop. The fact it won't read any discs suggests the lens has got a bit grubby (as opposed to an individual CD being damaged), so you'll need to get yourself a lens cleaning CD. These are available from most electronics shops and will only cost you a few pounds.

CD stuck in the drive!

And the eject button on the keyboard won't do anything either, even if you hold it down for several seconds? In that case, restart your Mac while holding down the mouse or trackpad button. This'll force your machine to spit out the disc.

Can I use mini CDs?

No! Small or specially shaped CDs may look cute, but don't try putting one in your Mac's slot-loading optical drive. If you need to access what's on it, find someone who has a tray-loading drive and get at what you need that way.

Quick tip

If you connect a second screen or projector to your Mac, it assumes you want to extend your workspace onto it rather than replicating what the main display is showing. To change this, switch on Mirroring in System Preferences > Displays > Arrangement.

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Everloop Pioneers Kids' Social Playground As Facebook Lurks At The Gates

Tween social network Everloop has developed a range of parent-friendly features that could become the groundwork for Zuckerberg's inevitable foray into young social networking.

kid blocking camera

Now or in the near future, Facebook wants your kids. And your kids, face it, want their Facebook.

Last month, Mark Zuckerberg made headlines for saying Facebook should, eventually, be a place for pre-teens, a controversial declaration in light of recent evidence that 43% of European pre-teens have illegally skirted the social network's limit on users under 13.

As parents worry about Facebook's unfiltered news stream of NC-17 college weekends, adult advertisements, and child predators that evade monitoring, an alternative tween social network, Everloop, has developed what it says is a range of parent-friendly features. Whether Everloop is blazing a trail of its own or setting itself up for a pricey buyout by Facebook itself, its likely to lay groundwork for Zuckerberg's inevitable foray into social networking's youth demo.

Inside Everloop, parents are authenticated through a series of questions and verifications before any interaction is permitted, and then they are given options to switch on their kids' features such as email, friending, and chatting as the young ones grow into their digital britches.

Everloop CEO, Hillary DeCesare, tells Fast Company that parents will often want initially to be very restrictive. As children age or demonstrate responsible use, parents can allow more slack and allow children to chat and join groups of like-minded peers, called a "loop."

Everloop might be more 1984 than Lord of The Flies.Messages can snooped without the child's consent and parents can opt to personally approve every friend request. DeCesare argues that such measures are not violations of privacy, because the terms of service give ample warning to young users that "their parents are involved." However, she says, Everloop is still a nascent platform, and she looks favorably on a system where children are fully aware of what parents can--and cannot--view.

The full-transparency philosophy has been embraced by social networking giants mostly after the government announces it's monitoring them, with Twitter notifying users when authorities indict them based on alleged violations of law. Everloop gains the moral support of the safety-first parent demographic by ceding control to them right off the bat.

Then again, Everloop has even more restrictions on parents than they do on children: Anyone over 15 is forbidden from interacting with other users. Except in the rare exception of a something like a verified Girl Scout leader messaging users in a parent-approved group, adults are restricted to their own households and can only monitor and approve activity as their own children venture out into the virtual world.

"This is a kid's world," DeCesare tells Fast Company. "The way adults correspond, communicate, and post information is very different than children. We want them to be comfortable acting as children while becoming comfortable with social tools." Everloop, does, in the end, need to be appealing to kids, and talkative adults might seriously kill the buzz of Bieber-themed, abbreviation-laden chatter.

However, in this case, a mini-me Facebook-owned site for kids might make up for one of Everloop's impending problems: Children who transition from age 14 to 15 are severed from the younger friends. DeCesare hints to Fast Company that she's in negotiations for some kind of "age-up" strategy that seamlessly transitions 15-year-olds to "other" social networking sites, but, ultimately, communication must be blocked by older users.

If Facebook were to ape this--or even buy it--it could easily develop a special communication bridge between pre-friended teenagers as they move through transition years.

A sophisticated censorship algorithm scrubs pictures and text before they're even posted by haphazard tweens. The swear words, personal addresses, and bullying that do slip by are mopped up by human moderators (video below of the cheeriest hall monitor ever: "Another cool thing you can do on Everloop is chat with all your loopy friends, but make sure it's good, clean fun, or the MOD Squad will shut your chat like that."

[youtube aL7Fkl-j35M]

As any teacher or parent knows, prohibition ignites rebellion, so Everloop adds an education piece by automatically placing informative reputation management blog posts into the news stream of its users. Some type of ubiquitous education system will likely be put in place as training wheels for young users on future social media platforms.

"Once they learn how to behave on the Internet, then, by all means, send them off," DeCesare says. She acknowledges that young users are destined for Facebook. "Let's just make sure when they get there, they're ready for it."

Connect with Greg Ferenstein on Twitter or Facebook. Also, follow Fast Company on Twitter.

[Image: Flickr user JasonTromm]

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UN should take control of 'Wild West' web

The UN should take action on internet freedoms, says the Council of Europe's head of human rights, Thomas Hammarberg.

Taking in both the point that access to the web has become a human rights issue and that content needs to be better policed, he takes issue with the different strokes for different folks approach:

"These kind of clampdowns which we have seen in China must be prevented. We would like to see a discussion about international regulation which would filter out porn or incitement to war and hatred," he said.

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"The time has come to begin to find the right way to regulate it with the protection of freedom of expression. Some governments have restrictions and others are letting it become like the Wild West."

In Hammarberg's opinion, the United Nations is best-placed to deal with the issue of net freedoms because it poses global conundrums.

"When I discuss freedom of expression with governments I notice there's a problem here. We need to have a serious discussion about this. We need to protect the diversity of media. The tendencies in some countries are very restrictive.

"There should be a special commission appointed to work on this appointed by the UN because the problem is so global nowadays.

"There's a need for an international dimension. Most of the sites are run by private companies but the regulations are directed towards governments. It's complicated."

Notoriously internet controlling countries like China, Iran, Syria, North Korea and Egypt are all members of the UN.

In the UK, creator of the internet Sir Tim Berners-Lee has spoken of the importance of unrestricted access the web and the fact it has become a human right, saying that special laws may have to be brought in to keep the online peace.

That's a viewpoint that Vodafone's CEO, Vittorio Colao, and France's president Nicolas Sarkozy agrees with, while companies like Facebook and Google have spoken out about the importance of keeping the internet 'free' of restrictive laws in order to foster innovation.

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