By Matthew Palmer
The teenage consumer has always been one of the most profitable and
elusive markets on which to capitalize. It is very difficult for stuffy
corporations to reach out and speak to teens. However, one model that
seems to be working from a business and popularity standpoint is enabling
teens to talk to each other, with some moderation.
The culture of Bolt is very interesting but not entirely surprising.
The content is submitted by registered users and then some of it is
posted by the site operators. It runs the gamut from college life
to coping with death to sexual advice. The message boards read like
conversations from a high school cafeteria. On medical issues like
acne or birth control, they also lack the same credibility. The free-for-all
community aspect of these types of sites, especially for teenagers,
is usually their strongest asset and most visible flaw. They are an
open forum for people of all backgrounds, views, locations, and (if
you believe almost anyone has access to the Internet) socio-economic
backgrounds.
However, with the anonymity of the Internet, teens are free to be
more honest or most fake. This is good with sensitive issues that
teens are already hesitant to talk about in person. It also means
most users are trying to be hipper or more obnoxious than everyone
else. But this is high school online, right? So, if you can put up
with some swears and inflated talk about sexual prowess, the posts
are amusing.
So, what is Bolt doing with all this exposure (over 8000 registered
users were logged in at the same time I was)? First, Bolt's design
has been changed into something that is more confident of its stake
in a teenager's digital life. When I first learned about Bolt a few
years ago, it was a simple site with members and message boards. Now,
one frame of the widow holds a personalized list of links to new messages
(called Bolt Notes) sent to you, a homepage you can build, your horoscope,
and your calendar. Behind the menu is wallpaper that can be personalized
and your own icon. The main frame is filled with highlights of today's
messages, a poll, and links to their sponsors. There's the catch.
Yet, surprisingly, the advertisements and promotions are not flagrant.
Some of them are even listed under a "Features" header.
Whether they are advertisements or services is in the eye of the beholder.
Hopefully, Bolt seeks to serve more than just the sponsors. As an
online community, it succeeds well considering the age group. Bolt
is one of the more popular teen chat destinations, so its message
boards are usually kept fresh with many new messages. Seeing the huge
popularity of AOL Instant Messenger, e-mail, and cell phones among
young people, there is obviously a need for fast, cheap, convenient
communication. Whereas those three media allow mainly one-on-one conversations,
Bolt is a whole online community. That means Bolt and similar sites
are only as good as the people that participate in them.