Sweety High encourages girls to express themselves creatively, be respectful of others, and stay safe online. On the other hand, a lot of the content focuses on celebrities and shopping.
Educational Value
a little
Kids can learn how to be respectful and safe in the social networking world while nurturing their creativity and self expression. Girls can film themselves singing or dancing, post the video on Sweety High, and give feedback to other "Sweeties." Sweety High's strict moderation and privacy controls ensure that content is for users' eyes only -- and that comments are kind and constructive. Shopping and celebrity gossip easily overshadow self-esteem building.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this social network for girls is strong on privacy. Sweety High moderates user-created content and provides plenty of information on surfing safely. Girls' profiles are only visible to their friends, and there are parental controls for younger users' accounts. Parts of Sweety High focus on creativity and self-expression, but the site is also heavy on shopping, fashion, and celebrities.
My oldest daughter loves to go on Sweety High, she goes on it almost every day. She has made lots of friends through Sweety High, but I have one problem. There is a little bit of romantic content I don't want Angeline (my oldest daughter) to see, she's still a little bit too young. I would recommend this site for kids 8-13. Have a great day. -Lisa R. Whitaker, 4th Grade Teacher
I received an email at 6:58 PM on August 9th, 2012 to notify me that effective August 9th, 2012 Sweety High parental accounts will no longer be available.
Very poor communication to delete the parental account and notify you after the fact. If you want to monitor or change anything for your daughter you will now have to login under the username and password of your daughter. So if your child then decided to change their password you then no longer have access to see anything that they are posting. In the 6 months or so that my daughter has been on this website I have not felt the need to monitor everything she does on the website but liked knowing I had the ability to view or delete anything she posted. I only ever accessed the parental account in the first week to make sure I knew how to navigate the site if I ever did need to review what my daughter was doing or delete anything. I don't appreciate the website taking that away without any prior warning. Overall my 11 year old likes the website and I feel it is a good alternative to other social media websites that children are drawn to that were not created for children.
Privacy Rating Warning
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
Sweety High's school-themed social site lets girls interact with friends online, earn rewards, and upload photos and videos. An original web series called "Sweety" follows the lives of four high school BFFs; the teen-hosted "Food Star" features cooking tips and celebrity guests. Four times a year, Sweety High hosts "Be a Star," a contest that rewards talented tweens with real-life opportunities to pursue their dreams in fields like fashion design. Joining Sweety High is free, but you must become a member to enter "Be a Star" and get access to other premium features.
Sweety High has some fun features and a stylish design. The video channels offer entertaining, well-produced fare, and some of the contests encourage creativity, like asking girls to write a song for the chance to duet with a well-known performer. The social networking features go beyond the basics -- girls can give each other hearts and gifts, and in turn, they'll earn karma points that unlock extra rewards. Sweety High does a good job creating a safe, positive atmosphere, and users' comments are encouraging and upbeat.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the safety tips on the site and discuss whether it's OK to post videos or other content that might compromise a teen's privacy.
Families can talk about whether it's worth paying a fee to access a site's premium content. Can you have fun on this site without the extra features? What kind of content is worth paying extra for?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
suggesting a diversity update.
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
By Susan Yudt
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
