Online Parenting Styles
General
+ Parents' level of involvement during online play tends to follow a normal distribution with the majority displaying some interest and engagement in their child's online activities.
+ About 1/4 are uninvolved (either busy, older child, or trust that site), about 1/4 are engaged 100% of time. This is a big 'do together; many of Dads do this.
ss.org
+ Parents didn't easily find My Street or Playlists as they were too focused on finding one particular asset.
+ Didn't want social media tie ins with kids content, but did with the parents content.
+ 15-30 minutes is usually the cap for parents allowing their kids online so this is important for programming
Online Activities for preschoolers - general across kids sites
+ kids spend time playing games
+ watching videos listening to music
+ lookiing at pictures
+ drawing
Kids Control Computer Time
+ Parents usually do not preview. In general parents do not spend time seeking out online experiences for their kids
+ They only navigate to kids websites when their child is sitting next to them and asking for online experiences
+ If a child's teacher recommends, parents trust this.
+ Sometimes the parent will take a quick look at the site, but once they see it's ok they don't generally dig deeper. They use a LOT of visual cues - characters, navigation etc.
+ Parents thought there should be a 50 50 balance between learning and enterntaining.
parents of 2 year olds are more likely to browse and select any activity that looks fun and educationsal, they are les concerned with their child learning specific concepts.
older kids - more targetedf searching. they look for onlienexperiences that reinforce conceps and topics that tehir children are learning in school.
What parents say about ss.org
Pros
Safe
Educational
Minimal Advertising
Characters from one show
Good search results
Simple clean design
Cons
Characters from one show (less variety)
Kids start to outgrow characters between ages 4-5
In ss.org
+ Overwhelmingly parents start with the games section but then there are a few parents that start with videos.
+ Next up they clicked on subject, theme or character.
+ consider adding a filter that enables parents to select multiple characters and/or using the playlist filter for the overall site.
+ parents liked the idea of an age slider that would help them identify age appropriate online experiences for their child.
Playlist and My Street
+ Were kind of hidden - people ignored them.
+ after they were instructed to see them, parents enjoyed and saw the value in them.
+ parents weren't really noticing or grasping the my street icons throughout site.
+ icons should all be consistent
+ some parents didn't want to use My Street as the site is already intuitive and easy to use
Parent Tips
+ Parents didn't notice them but liked them once they were pointed out.
+ Parents really liked some of the random facts - fun for the parents, especially for the high engagement parents as it gives them something funny. However should be contextually relevant.
+ Also a good place to promote Playlists and My Street
Social Media
+ Not interested in social media buttons, or links to purchase additional products. But interested in sharing parent targeted content.
+ They woujld not share or like kid content
+ Parents go to ss.org for FREE content. If they want to watch a sesame clip they can't find on website they go to youtube
Parents global nav
+ Parents are not taking time to look at the parents section. As they were there for their kids.
+ suggest put in parents throw in parent tips
Summary and Recommendations
+ Parents are not taking advantage of the Sesame Playlists and My Street tabs.
+ Focus on site and social media promotion on getting parents to recognize the value of these sections.
