If you haven’t already heard, it was announced in the last week or so that HarperCollins & MySpace have partnered to create an online community for teens. The Computerworld article I read says: “The community will allow teens to create their own profiles, including photos. The teens can also post their own creative writing stories for review by other teens.”

Certainly there are already hundreds of online communities for teens already?? So, I did a quick Google on the obvious search term “teen community,” which provided dozens of pages of results, including Teenhut.com, Teen Second Life, GreenTeen.org, and many more. I even found an online magazine, Teenink.com, written entirely by teens. Heck, even MySpace and Facebook should count as a teen community (even though old people like me can get in).

Is HarperTeen really just another teen community?

It’s always been my belief - and certainly that of all people in the interactive marketing industry and beyond - that teens are the predictors of future behaviors, technology, and marketing. Unlike folks in my generation - who took a typewriting classes in high school and had a party line (not as fun as it sounds) on their home phone - this “next generation” is a population of people who have literally grown up with technology.

My 9 Year Old Son.
I have a 9-year old son; and while he might not be a teenager, he is an excellent example. Jeffrey has schoolmates who actually have cell phones (and nicer ones than mine at that). He has multiple gaming stations, hundreds of channels to surf on the satellite dish, an active email address, surfs the web in school, and is a member of the Webkinz online community.

Teen Influence.
Beyond the definite edge these teens will have as they wave into the business world, this group has powerful influence right now. In fact, a recent report by Pew Internet and the American Life Project, found that “content creation by teenagers continues to grow, with 64 percent of online teenagers ages 12 to 17 engaging in at least one type of content creation, up from 57 percent of online teens in 2004.”

And, as my Jeffrey example suggests, teenagers have a wide variety of communications options. Because these teens are tech-savvy, they lean heavily on communication methods like instant messaging and social networks. The report shows that “39 percent of online teens share their own artistic creations online such as artwork, photos stories or videos, and “26 percent of online teens remix content they find online into their own creations.”

Bottom line, teens aren’t just waiting around for their turn to influence the development of technology when they “grow up;” rather, technology is constantly being created for them.

HarperCollins & MySpace.
This partnership makes a lot of sense. HarperCollins is one of the world’s largest publishing companies; reaching out to teens now is a wise move. Giving users something unique, and freedom in their participation is what they will need to be successful.

I did dig around a little on the site, and I have to say that it is actually fairly nice - not something I would typically say about a MySpace page. Both the style and functionality are appealing. And, they have 19,212 friends … not too bad.

HaperTeen is also holding a writing contest for MySpace members through January 7th, with a $5000 prize. Certainly HarperCollins has conducted many writing contests in more traditional models over the years. However, this contest does have a not-so-surprising spin, the final winner will be decided on by HaperTeen members. The good news is that people really do seem excited, with nearly every comment relating to the contest, and all of the user-created forums dedicated to it.

From my perspective, the biggest challenge for HarperTeen will be maintaining interest after the contest ends. So I’ll be keeping my eye on this, I’m curious to see how well they are able to foster community over time.