Piczo: Pages With Privacy

Piczo is a social networking site aimed at teens. OK, great... don't we already have one of those? The thing that makes Piczo different is that it offers more privacy and isn't based on profiles. Here's what Liz Gannes said about it today on GigaOM:

Unlike other social networks, Piczo does not default to a simple profile, but instead multiple pages (a mini-site) of loose templates centered around pictures. It looks more like Geocities or Angelfire than MySpace or Facebook. Users are discouraged from posting any identifying information. Pop-up messages warn "Careful What You Post!" telling kids not to use their real names, or even mention their schools or sports teams. Users can only find friends through email or by looking at a friend's list of friends.

The site launched in 2004 as a paid photo sharing site, but was then quickly re-tooled into something close to what it is now. According to Liz's post, there are currently 17 million registered users, most of them teens from Canada and the U.K.

I browsed some Piczo pages today, and I can say that Liz is right on when she compares the look to pages on Geocities or Angelfire. There's some straight-up 1997 gaudiness going on here, especially in the typeface choices and the zany, brightly colored blocks. Something about Piczo's pages are remarkably innocent, but it doesn't feel forced at all. Is this what happens when you let 14-year-olds build web pages with no format restrictions? Kinda cool.

Piczo's CEO Jeremy Verba is making the rounds today and doing the first real press tour for the site. Here's coverage from GigaOM, TechCrunch and CNet.