Making the site

Wow, I just found the most commercial non-social, social network site by Walmart.

A selection of the FAQ’s from their site:

WHAT’S THE HUB ALL ABOUT?
The HUB is a place for you to express your individuality and see how other people express theirs. It’s all about expressing your creativity, personality, and style combined with the chance of winning some amazing prizes

SO, WHAT CAN I DO HERE?
There’s tons of fun stuff to keep you entertained! Check out the latest fashion trends and make your own personalized page for a chance to win amazing prizes from Sony®! If you’re a little more ambitious, create your own video clip and send it in for a chance to have it turned into a TV commercial!

SERIOUSLY?!
It’s the real deal, guys, these prizes are out of control! All you have to do is make a page or submit a video clip to get your chance to win!

WHY IS MY PAGE MISSING?
Your parent or guardian may not have given their consent for you to participate at this time.

They see these kids as customers. Maybe it is beta or something, but I can’t even find a link to another page, ‘these are my friends’ or a guestbook on these profiles.

The name “the HUB (school your way)” sounds lame to me. I actually thought about playing with the term hub for the charity social network site, because it’s a network term (a node that is highly connected). But I figured it sounds dumb and does not relate to normal people who don’t care about networks. So I ended up asking you to help me with finding the right name.

Oh, and it looks like they’ve added fake profiles just to fill the site up. You tell me, does this read like it’s written by a kid or does it read like it’s written by a Wallmart copywriter:

I really would like to focus on my studies. Getting good grades at the stage that I am in, in my life right now is very important. I want to be friendly and giving towards others as well. I want to have my own sense of style, so I can be a unique, fun, outgoing person. I want to be cool, and that to me means not succumbing to all the pressures that Jr. High comes with. School should be fun and about making new friends and learning new things. Education and friendship will be key in ‘ School My Way ‘ not only this fall, but throughout the whole year.

I have a feeling that Polo Shirts, and T-Shirts will definitely make my style fly this fall. it’s important to have shirts that are your stlye, just because it can reflect who you are as a person.

Maybe it’s just me, but it kind of hurts in my chest when I read that. This copywriter probably had a tough task; Drop the terms school my way, fun, friendly, own sense of style, cool, friends, education and promote our new Polo shirts. Oh.. and don’t forget make it sound authentic.

They are targeting an audience much younger than me, so perhaps I can’t really tell if it works, but still I’ll say: this site is not going to work. The site is dead on birth.