Thread: My Idea...Advice Please!

Alright, this may sound dumb to you guys, or it may not. But I saw potential so I figured, why not share it, and get some friendly advice? So here it goes:

Ever heard of pen pals? Of course you have. Ever had one? Maybe. Have you ever heard of baby pen pals? I'm going to assume you haven't. The concept is to imagine going to a website, and typing your child's information in the appropriate fields. (Of course all the information will be private and secure) and having the website automatically match you with another child similar to the information you provided. If you don't like the match. You could try again, and maybe have better results that fit you liking. Once you found that perfect friend for your child, the website will automatically message that person, and if that person feels the same way, he or she can accept. That is the gist of it, but I want to add many, many more features other than just that.

I would have to make the service a paid service to protect against perverts, and creeps. For example: I don't know how many of you used Yahoo Messenger chat rooms, but if you have did you ever notice if you joined a room about a specific topic. Who is talking about the topic? Most are weirdos, that try and look for girls and vice versa.

This isn't an idea that i've been pondering for several weeks, or anything. It just came across my mind as I was laying down trying to go to sleep. I told my wife, and friend about it, and they seem the concept. So please any advice, or your thoughts about it are more than welcome. Maybe you can help me think of more features, or something.

Thank you for reading!


P.S I thought of a domain for the site, called: 'www.BabyPals.com' or something short and sweet similar to that.

1- You might run into some legal problems when kids under a certain age use a website. I personally would modify this idea (but i'm just one person...you say you have more features). Maybe similar to an online dating site: a website where you can go to meet new friends/network with people. Half of my ideas change completely before I actually begin working on them anyway. Just some food for thought.

2- Domains. The main page of GoDaddy.com has a place where you can search for domain names and see if they are available.

Google has a tool to search how many people google search specific words. Try to find something with low competition and a lot of seraches: https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeti...AS#search.none I think that link works

Well the aim is mostly towards parents, who would think it's cool to have their child to meet a friend across the country, or even across the world! As far as more features go. I had a few ideas, but not too many, and I was wondering if people on these forums could throw some ideas at me, like i've seen in other posts. I searched GoDaddy, and 'www.baby-pal.com' is available, so I thought that was pretty catchy.

Thank you for your response!

I don't think this is going to work and I will tell you why. First off being a parent of an 8 yr old I don't know how comfortable I am typing in his info even if a site says it is secure. Once I get me son a penpal I don't need you anymore because we can just go on skype and talk or I can get his email and we could talk that way. Also there are sites that kind of do this for kids. My son is a member of a website called moshi monsters which is free but they have a subscription version as well. He goes to this site and creates a monster and then other kids can ask to be his friends and once they are friends they can write messages to each other. He has friends from many different counties. These are just some of the issues that I think you will have to over come.

Yes, I have thought of that as well. I'm trying to open my mind to every single possibility though as to what can I do to go that extra mile? There is so much thought, and consideration that goes into creating something, and I would still like to get others opinions. Though, I thank you for putting your thought in. That's exactly what I asked for.

What your saying is build a social network for little kids.

Yes, that is the theory, but somehow I want to make it unique, and special in a way no one has done before. I know that's asking a lot, but I believe it could be done.... or can it?

I don't want to say that there's no market for this, but I don't see it...

Being a parent of two kids under the age of 10, I'd personally not use this. Being a parent is time consuming and finding the time for a pen pal and then monitoring that just isn't going to happen. The name "baby" is apt to make kid old enough to use the service say "I'm not a baby."

If your target audience were teenagers who study a foreign language, then perhaps an international pen pal site might work (assuming its not already been done). A new sign up would select which language they want to communicate with and in which country they want to have a pen pal.

Another idea is to combine the concept of study buddy and penpal. K-12 students get matched with pen pals based on school topic to work on...parents would likely be more on board with this site.

These are, as you can tell, off the cuff, but hopefully helpful to at least spark more targeted ideas.

Originally Posted by JPBB

If your target audience were teenagers who study a foreign language, then perhaps an international pen pal site might work (assuming its not already been done). A new sign up would select which language they want to communicate with and in which country they want to have a pen pal.

Wow I actually like this idea! Thank you for throwing some ideas at me. That's exactly what i'm asking. Now to just bunch different ideas together to make it solid, and run with it likes there's no tomorrow!

Thank you for your reply! Speed+

Originally Posted by JPBB

Being a parent of two kids under the age of 10, I'd personally not use this. Being a parent is time consuming and finding the time for a pen pal and then monitoring that just isn't going to happen. The name "baby" is apt to make kid old enough to use the service say "I'm not a baby."

If your target audience were teenagers who study a foreign language, then perhaps an international pen pal site might work (assuming its not already been done). A new sign up would select which language they want to communicate with and in which country they want to have a pen pal.

Another idea is to combine the concept of study buddy and penpal. K-12 students get matched with pen pals based on school topic to work on...parents would likely be more on board with this site.

These are, as you can tell, off the cuff, but hopefully helpful to at least spark more targeted ideas.

Wow, great ideas JPBB! A site to match up students (not just teens - could be college as well) learning each other's language could do really well, but IMO it would have to be free with the possibility of a paid portion. A big hurdle would be having the site in all the different languages though.

I like the study buddy idea as well - it could even be specific to particular popular books/papers.

On the International Pen Pal idea, the site could be programmed to recognize a person's origin (say Texas) and their penpal's (let's say somewhere in Greece). After x number of communications, *subtly* show your "store" in a sidebar. In this case, the store for the person from Texas has, for example, a T-shirt with the Texas flag on it, with a "for $20 have this gift delivered to your penpal, ____." basically, the psychology is that both sides are seeing gifts for sale - 'do unto others as you wish others to do unto you' +the reciprocation gift makes each sale nearly always 2 sales....just a thought.

Possibly a starting point for the language idea: Getting started pick two languages. I'll use English and Spanish as an example. Make it available to people of all ages wanting to learn the language. Have a structured program where over the course of a year you could have a good understanding of a language.

I notice I learn best when I'm actually teaching other people stuff. While you are trying to teach the other person english, you will be improving your spanish by being forced to explain it to them as you go.

I also like the idea of the store: JPBB- I am not sure if you meant exactly what I'm saying. You proposed that you can buy gifts for your penpal. Also make it so you can buy gifts from your penpal's culture yourself. If I am talking to a person in Russia and they have some vodka brand not for sale in the US, I would buy that sort of for novelty reasons.

This could also open up an affiliate market for traveling to new places.

Wow! I am literally blown away! Those are some amazing ideas. I'm really liking the idea about the whole "do unto others, as you would have them do for you" pen pal idea. I'm also liking the language thing, where not only do you have a pen pal, but also learn that persons culture, and language.

This sounds freaking great, and a potential gold mine, but there's one problem.. I am a complete noob, and this sounds far too complex to even getting started building. I mean could plugins, and scripts really build something like this? Or would I have to have a intensive knowledge of coding? I just don't know, and i'm hoping for one of you, who has some experience in webpage creating to tell me. All in all, this sounds like a great plan, and I want to get the ball rolling!

Thank you for your awesome ideas!!!

Very interesting ideas just from the start of this thread

Originally Posted by darkstarc4

Wow! I am literally blown away! Those are some amazing ideas. I'm really liking the idea about the whole "do unto others, as you would have them do for you" pen pal idea. I'm also liking the language thing, where not only do you have a pen pal, but also learn that persons culture, and language.

This sounds freaking great, and a potential gold mine, but there's one problem.. I am a complete noob, and this sounds far too complex to even getting started building. I mean could plugins, and scripts really build something like this? Or would I have to have a intensive knowledge of coding? I just don't know, and i'm hoping for one of you, who has some experience in webpage creating to tell me. All in all, this sounds like a great plan, and I want to get the ball rolling!

Thank you for your awesome ideas!!!

It does seem like a daunting task at first. I am in the same boat as you and I just started to learn how to code. Try to look at some templates and see what you like for the design at least. I made couple sketches on paint for the different pages I might have, and then go from there. Your idea will change along the way mine already has but only takes one step to get started.

maybe we can learn code together

Originally Posted by SPX

maybe we can learn code together

I'm cool with that. It's always easier to learn with a partner IMO, but how?

I love this!
Anybody notice the so-called "Magic Elf" that could not be kept on shelves this last Christmas?

I think the word here is BABY. I agree it wouldn't work on kids over 5-6, because they would consider having an e-Pal uncool...
What about a Social Network for expectant mothers and their husbands, new families that have an infant, and children up to 5-6. This way you could get the optimum 3-5 year customer lifespan and as their kids grow out of it they don't cause a scene on the way out.
You could still call it BabyPal then monetize later with ads from the manufacturers of baby products. I bet this would heat up quickly within it's niche...

I think the language idea has a LOT of potential - I have kids taking Spanish and I think that would be a great addition to their school learning! Develop it!

The baby/child idea, IMO, is a total non-starter. Any parent who would provide ANY info on their 5 and under child online is a total fool! "Secure" is a joke to predators and I hope that soon every parent knows that. I'd steer way clear of that idea. btw, I've been wrong plenty of times before, so take the advice for what it is....