#218: Safe Social Media? The World's Largest Social Network For Kids with Ashley Mady
Ever wondered if there's a social network tailored just for kids where fun meets learning in a safe environment? Yes, you heard that right, and it's called Zigazoo.
What if there was a platform where kids could engage, learn, and interact without the usual worries of social media? Or, if there was a social media platform dedicated to connecting your brand directly with its target market? Well if either of those possibilities pique your interest, then our latest podcast episode is a must-listen for you!
In this special episode of "Making it in the Toy Industry," we're joined by Ashley Mady, the President of Zigazoo, the world's largest kid-focused social network. Ashley helps us dissect the innovative core of Zigazoo, where challenge-based learning is leading a new era of social media. As a kickstart, we delve into how Zigazoo revolutionizes the concept of kid-friendly social media by focusing on project-based challenges rather than passive content consumption. We also unravel surprising aspects of the toy and tech industries and the importance of safe social networking for children. And, if you're curious about getting your kids started on Zigazoo, tune in for a handy walkthrough and engaging discussion about the platform.
Tap that play button and dive into the world of Zigazoo to learn how social media can be a safe and educational place for kids.
Episode Cliff Notes
Zigazoo has millions and millions of users, Ashley shares the exact number in this episode.
Learn how Zigazoo creates a safe environment for kids to engage with social media through moderated interactions and no personal information sharing.
Discover the unique learning opportunities Zigazoo offers through project-based challenges designed by kid creators and big brands.
Hear how Zigazoo involves parents in the process of creating a safe and educational platform for their children.
Find out about Zigazoo’s partnership with major brands like Penguin Publishing and DreamWorks and how that enhances the content and learning experiences available for children.
Learn what technology Zigazoo uses to ensure the safety and privacy of its young users.
Curious how Zigazoo stands up to TikTok and Instagram? Find out how Zigazoo manages to keep the platform engaging for kids through virtual rewards and recognition.
Discover the story behind Zigazoo's founders, former educators Zach and Leah Ringelstein, and what motivated them to start this platform.
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This episode is brought to you by www.thetoycoach.com
Learn more about Zigazoo by clicking here.RSVP for the kid-focused Social Media Wellness Roundtable by clicking here.
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Azhelle Wade:
You are listening to making it in the toy industry, episode number 218.
Ashley Mady:
As you see the world of social media, part of it is, who's running the app? Who are the people that are behind it? What kind of ethics do they have? And one thing I can say sitting at the table of the Zigazoo team is everyone genuinely cares about the well being of kids.
Jingle:
Welcome to making it in the Toy industry, a podcast for inventors, entrepreneurs, and makers like you. If you have a toy or a game idea but you're not sure what to do next, you're in the right place. Tune in every week to learn all about how you can navigate the toy industry just like the pros.
Azhelle Wade:
Hey there, toy people. Ajel Wade here, and welcome back to another episode of the Toy Coach podcast, making it in the toy industry. I know you're thinking, well, hold up, this week's episode is a day late. What's going on? We are toying around with the idea of moving our podcast release date to Thursdays. Just some stats that we've seen coming in have suggested that this might be a good idea. So let me know what you think about the new release date. If you don't like it, let me know. If you love it, let me know.
Azhelle Wade:
If you don't think it matters too much. Let me know. You can message me over on Instagram if you want to get a voice note back, or you can message me over@infoethetoycoach.com I also want to let you know that I'm going to be moderating a roundtable on the impact of social media on kids development on Monday, May 6 at 11:00 a.m.. Eastern. It's going to go for 45 minutes. It's going to be incredible. Roundtable this was organized by Zigazoo's Leah Rinkelstein and will be featuring other guests, Jacqueline Nessie, a PhD at Brown University, Sharon Vindereen from parent tested, parent approved, Laura Tierney from the Social Institute and Melissa Hunter from Family Video Network. The goal of this talk is to help parents and caregivers arm themselves with the tools and techniques to talk to their kids about social media, but also protect them from the dangers of it.
Azhelle Wade:
And I thought, what better of an episode to announce that upcoming roundtable than one that is going to be talking about social media, wellness and safety? With the guest today, Ashley Mattie from Zigazoo. But before we dive in, I have got to share with you other changes coming to the podcast. When we first started this podcast, it was filled with masterclass style episodes which. In which I would break down my processes and I would break down my thought processes behind making toys in the toy industry, selling ideas, selling products. And we need to do more of that. I hear you loud and clear. Those of you messaging me that want more of that on this podcast. I too want to do more of that.
Azhelle Wade:
I love doing deep dives into things like new laws that are going to be affecting our industry into ways to sell your ideas more effectively, how to figure out your price point. I want to get into all of that in detail once again. So we're going to be doing more solo episodes coming up to break down those step by steps like we used to do in our earlier episodes, and also, of course, having our guests come on the podcast and drop their wisdom. But I do know that we all need to learn in different ways, and I want to make sure that this podcast is the most educational place possible. So I would love to hear from you what additional educational materials would make this podcast more valuable to you. I've been toying around with a few ideas. Some of those ideas are to create a book based on key lessons in this podcast. Others are to create workbooks, quizzes, maybe a mini course or masterclass focusing on specific lessons learned in certain episodes of this podcast.
Azhelle Wade:
But I would love to hear from you. I really want to know what would make your listening time more valuable. Please let me know. You can reach out to me@infoethetoycoach.com. Dot please just give that subject line something clear, like making in the toy industry podcast recommendations. I want to make something that is going to help you learn from this podcast even more. Okay, now without further ado, let's dive into this week's episode and learn about Zigazoo, the only social media designed specifically for kids and to keep them safe. Our guest today, Ashley Mattie, is president of Zigazoo Kids, the world's largest social network for kids.
Azhelle Wade:
Ashley's past roles include VP of brand development at it's Sugar, the largest specialty candy retailer, and VP of brand development at the toy manufacturer basic fun. In 2009, Ashley founded and helmed the brand licensing and creative agency Brandberry. There, she spent close to a decade launching new ip from the ground up and reinvigorating established brands. From 2014 to 2020, Ashley served as president of the global nonprofit Women in toys, licensing and entertainment, and she currently sits on the board of the Toy association, where she chairs genius of play and serves on the board of trustees of the Toy Foundation. Ashley, welcome to the show.
Ashley Mady:
Thank you for having me to kick things off.
Azhelle Wade:
Finish the sentence. For me, the thing that surprised me most about the toy industry was two things.
Ashley Mady:
One, that almost everything was licensed, and two, the inventor community. I started in the industry right out of school, and those two things really blew my mind.
Azhelle Wade:
I want to dive more into that. What were you seeing?
Ashley Mady:
I guess I never really understood licensing or knew how much was licensed in our world, let alone the toy industry and the brands that I got started on. I worked as a designer, care bears and trolls, and I thought it was so interesting that I was going to a toy company to just create, and then suddenly, I'm handed a style guide and instructions to follow, which was an incredible learning experience. But I was also equally inspired by all these inventors who would walk into the office and pitch their crazy big ideas and thought, all right, I need to figure out how to play in this world.
Azhelle Wade:
You know, the company I started with, I didn't work on licensed brands, so I started in the toy industry, just coming up with ideas. And then later I found my friends were working on licensed brands, and I was like, wait, so you. You don't have to, like, make the style guide, so they just give it to you? That's so cool.
Ashley Mady:
I was the opposite. I'm like, I just want to create. I need some freedom. I want to make the brand. Everyone else follows my instructions. Oh, man.
Azhelle Wade:
Oh, man. So we were both just, like, complaining about the lives we lived, right? It's the best life before we dive in. For those that don't know, Zigazoo being the first social networking platform for kids, what does that really mean?
Ashley Mady:
Yeah. So social media as a whole wasn't designed for kids, though many kids are finding their way to social platforms that they should not be on, and they're discovering content that they shouldn't see and that their parents wouldn't like them to see. So our founders developed Zigazoo with the idea in mind that they wanted a place for their kids to be able to go, to connect and collaborate and have a safe experience. And that was founded during the pandemic and since then has grown into the world's largest social network for kids. And ask kids of all ages, because kids ask their parents, I want to be on social media, and their parents suddenly are searching for a solution. And Zigazoo is that, and we've had to create a whole experience with kids in mind, and, you know, what's healthy for them. And I'll unpack more of that as we go along.
Azhelle Wade:
Tell me a little bit about the parental consent process.
Ashley Mady:
Yeah. So parental consent is needed for kids to be able to actually create videos on the platform. So what happens is a kid and child have to make a video together, and the parent says, this is my child, Henry. They say, this is my parent. And Henry is allowed to create content on Zigazoo, and that will then unlock Henry's account so that he is able to post video responses. There's a number of other ways that you could get cleared to participate on the app, but we want to make sure that a parent has given permission for their child to be engaging and making videos and posting videos on Zigazoo. And then there's a number of things that the parent can check, too, like, do you want that content to be shared only on Zigazoo, or can it be shared outside the walls of Zigazoo? Do I want to be able to text it to grandma or a friend? Yeah, a lot of parents are through that process, engaging with their kids content in really interesting ways, too.
Azhelle Wade:
How long does it take for a child's account to get approved? Once they upload that parent approval video.
Ashley Mady:
Generally it goes through our same, like, moderation queue, so it's generally a matter of minutes. Wow, that's. We have round the clock moderators, so everything goes very fast in terms of.
Azhelle Wade:
Getting consent when kids create these videos. Kids, you know, are impatient creatures. They're like, where was my video? On the app? How long are they waiting? So typically minutes.
Ashley Mady:
Minutes. They don't even realize that there's a moderation. This, obviously, there's certain weekends where we get busy and it could take a little bit longer. But, yeah, we try to make sure that it's this, like, really quick experience.
Azhelle Wade:
When it comes to safety. We see a lot of ads these days about how you shouldn't be posting your kids pictures all over social media and the safety of their voice. Now with AI, how closed of a system is Zigazoo so that the. Is the video content going elsewhere?
Ashley Mady:
Most of our content stays within the walls of Zigazoo. Like I mentioned, there are some sharing features so parents can share extra. Or if we're hosting a massive contest on Zigazoo, there might be a winner that we feature prominently. And then we get in touch with their parents to feature them in a meaningful way. Like maybe they're throwing a pitch at a baseball game or they're doing something really cool or becoming president for a day that has all this press coverage with it. We make sure that we're in touch with the parents. And, yeah, to keep a lot of things within our app. We are planning for some big, exciting content initiatives where there will be audition and clip show style formats that can come from the app.
Ashley Mady:
We've already had commercial auditions. More recently, kids could star in a commercial with Shaq via ed Soma, one of our partners, and we did that casting call all through the Zigazoo app and video series.
Azhelle Wade:
Wow, that is so cool. I wish I was a kid in the age of Zigazoo. This sounds awesome. And I want stats. Can you share any? It's the largest social network for kids. How many active users?
Ashley Mady:
Yeah, we have over 8 million users on our platform. And one thing that's really about our users is when they come on our platform, they're coming on with their parents. So their parents coming on and they're giving their child permission to use the app in a number of different ways. So we also have a line of communication directly with our parents.
Azhelle Wade:
And what is the age range of your users? The kid users, not the brand users?
Ashley Mady:
Yeah, it varies. Kids under the age of 13 are allowed to be on Zigazoo. I would say our core users are in that six to eleven range. And we do have some kids younger that are using alongside their parents. And then our power users are kids nine to eleven, and those kids are starting to get their own phones and device devices and often have more screen time. And some of this time on our app.
Azhelle Wade:
Wow, that's. That's so great. You actually made me flashback to a time when I started using the Internet. It was all about chat rooms, dating myself. I know she looks so young, but no chat room.
Ashley Mady:
I was there too, don't worry. Right.
Azhelle Wade:
And it was not a safe place at all. No, the thing in chat rooms was all ASL. Asl, right. Yeah. I'm just so grateful that I had some knowledge at a young age to not give away all that information. But online communities can be a dangerous place. Now, building a community, it hinges on capturing and maintaining the interest of users. So how, in Zigazoo's case, do you get kids to be attracted to a platform that is not TikTok or Instagram? And how do you get them and their families to engage with it?
Ashley Mady:
Yeah, I think Zigazoo is a place where you can find all of the coolest trends without the bad stuff. Hey, maybe our song doesn't have the curse word in it that you might find on other platforms, because we're moderating out for that. But you can experience all of those great things that kids love about social the new dance trends and the new editing trends that they love. They can do that on Zigazoo, and they can become good digital citizens and make sure that they're sharing the right kind of information. All the guardrails that we didn't have when we were kids, and quite frankly, we were lucky that we didn't get ourselves into trouble. It's nice to have Zigazoo where you can't get in trouble, and you're also learning the best behaviors so that one day when you graduate onto another social network, when you're of age, you know how to navigate and make good decisions and be a good person on those platforms. I think that's the thing that a lot of us in today's world on social media missed.
Azhelle Wade:
How do you keep it so safe?
Ashley Mady:
It's.
Azhelle Wade:
But what features policies do you implement to ensure safety and security for these kids?
Ashley Mady:
We have multiple layers of safety. I'll first start with our human moderation. So every single piece of content that goes up on Zigazoo has been seen by human eyes, and we're moderating out for bullying, negative self talk, a curse word in a song, if mom has a bottle of wine in the background, none of that stuff is making it up on Zigazoo. So those are the measures that we stand by, and it's a place that a parent can drop their kid off and know that they're not gonna. Their kids are not gonna see something that they're not supposed to see on Zigazoo. We also have ethical algorithms, and we don't have any commenting because we believe that kids, and adults, for that matter, if you have to attach your face to what you're saying, you're going to be kind. And we find that helps a lot. And in the event that a child's not being kind, that that content's never gonna make it up on their platform, and they start to learn, hey, I posted a video.
Ashley Mady:
I was being a bully. It got zero likes and zero views, and I didn't get rewarded for that behavior. Meanwhile, I made some other video, and it got all of this love. And I'm getting gifts from my friends and other people within the Zigazoo community, and you start to realize, let me do more of that.
Azhelle Wade:
Well, wait, can you elaborate on that? Like, what are these gifts?
Ashley Mady:
They're all virtual gifts. So, as an example, one of the gifts is a goat for greatest of all time. So if you see a video and you love it and you think it's just the greatest, you could someone. You could give someone a goat. Lots of hearts, all of the stickers and gifts that you can pull from to give to your friends are positive in nature. They make people feel good. And then we have this massive creator community, and they give gifts to all of their fans. When a creator comes on to our app, that's part of our creator club there, you know, our influencers of sorts on Zigazoo, we don't even really use that word, but they make a challenge video.
Ashley Mady:
Real kids and zigazooers get to respond, and those creators get to see the video messages from all the kids, which is, which is just so inspiring. Of course they want to shout them out and give them gifts and make them feel the love, especially because they can't do it on other social platforms.
Azhelle Wade:
And since there's no commenting, how do the replies work? So I posted, I mean, not me, because I'm my future child posts a video and how do they get that reply? How does that work? The conversations?
Ashley Mady:
Yeah. So everything on Zigazoo is challenged, all built around project based learning, which is one of our educational principles. So a creator, a celebrity or a brand posts a video, it has a challenge question, and then kids get to respond in video form to that challenge question. So it's more, we had some really broad ones, like, what's on your mind? It could also be like, I'm thinking of decorating my room. What ideas do you have? And, you know, kids are really having a conversation with whoever prompted that, that challenge, and it's all done on a public forum. So whoever is has created the challenge can see those responses, as can anybody in the Zigazoo community. So oftentimes we find that kids see a challenge that they're interested in, go through a bunch of Zigazoo responses, get inspired, and then they go create their own. Some of the magic of Zigazoo, it's, you're not just passive viewing, you're getting up, you're getting inspired, you're creating and participating.
Azhelle Wade:
Yeah, that's so, you're almost like training for the social media Olympics. That's so cute. That's so cute. It's almost like a video forum. It sounds like, you know, it's like a forum where you engage and then you respond, but you have your own post. Everyone can see what it's from, and it's almost like there's no real threat, but everything is connected in some way.
Ashley Mady:
Exactly. And it all always goes back to that challenge. You end up seeing a video of a kid doing something amazing. You can always look up, what was the challenge question? Maybe it was, can you create something and then you can see, you know, kids creating all sorts of things and. And show off or just figure out new things that you didn't, you didn't know. Like, kids are getting to see other kids around the world, how they live, their hobbies, their interests. And there's lots of learning that they're gaining just by being on our app.
Azhelle Wade:
I'm assuming if kids, two kids in zig zoo in the same school are posting, then they can talk at school about what happened on Zigazoo. That's fun. So you're absolutely right. You're starting something. You're becoming little mini famous on Zigazoo. Then you come into school and you just have, like, conversations about, oh, did you see what Tommy posted on Ziggazoo? Like, oh, my God, so cute. And they can talk at Zigazoo. That's fun.
Azhelle Wade:
So you're starting something. You're becoming little mini famous on Zigazoo. Then you come into school and you just have conversations about, oh, did you see what Tommy posted on Zigazoo? Like, oh, my God, so cute. But I'm curious, are there actual names? Are there real names shown on Zigazoo?
Ashley Mady:
That's a great question and goes back to Pii. Another thing that we moderate out for is sharing personally identifiable information. So kids can't share their actual names in their username, they can't share their birthday, they can't make a video and say where they live. They can't even on Zigazoo wear a school uniform. Like, we want to make sure that kids are protected. So those are some of the behaviors that we screen out for. And then it's part of the kids getting educated not to give that information out online in the future.
Azhelle Wade:
That is so helpful. We grew up in the age where Facebook was brand new and everyone just.
Ashley Mady:
Giving out all their life out here.
Azhelle Wade:
Just, here's my. And my car, my license plate number would come find me. All my family members, too, and their last names, just everything. So, yeah, what a great training situation is how to protect yourself and, okay, is there actual content coming from Zigazoo? That is a lesson of, like, remember, you know, don't share, blah, blah, blah.
Ashley Mady:
That's such a great question. So a lot of our creators and our creator community view themselves as roles. So they love to come on the app and teach kids about everything, their hobbies, and then also how to be great digital citizens. We also have social media wellness month for the month of May, and that is really educating kids and their families about behaviors online and what healthy social media can look like. And it's going to be lots of creators within our community giving tips, different experts con and this, this big awareness and education campaign to our users and our family and their families, which we're quite excited about and more soon.
Azhelle Wade:
Yeah, that's great. And speaking about their families, that's exactly where I want to go next. I'm a parent. My kids on this apple, they're having a great time. I hear them giggling in their room, like, what is Tommy doing in there? Can I see what was posting on Zigazoo? Can I engage with it? How can parents be? Are they involved with this app at all?
Ashley Mady:
One thing we know for sure, and one thing you can question is who is recording the video? Who's on the other side of the camera? Oftentimes it's a family member, a parent, a sibling, a friend. So we know parents are involved that way. We also see parents on the app all the time asking their kids questions and kind of participating in the videos with their child. The email that's given during onboarding is actually the parents email. So we always have communication with the parent. Not that we're necessarily guiding them as to what their child is doing, but we're sharing with them new and exciting challenges on the app because we do really cool things like Giveaway World Series tickets or have celebrity guests like Damon John on the app where kids can pitch their business directly to. So we communicate to parents about just cool things that are going on in the app. And because they have their email attached to the app, they can always go in and see what their child is doing on Zigazoo.
Ashley Mady:
But we don't have a parent portal per se. We really like to focus on the kids coming into Zigazoo and they're in charge. Like, this is a place where you get to pick what challenges you participate in instead of your parents. Parents trust us to protect their children, to just have an incredible independent experience.
Azhelle Wade:
And you said kids age out of Zigazoo at twelve.
Ashley Mady:
Yeah, they start to age out. I mean, generally we let them continue on the platform when they're 13 for another year, but that's around the time age that they start to be exposed to other social platforms. Look, laws are changing. There's about to be lots of disruption in the world. So I think there's a need for where kids can go in those in between ages as well, and how long can they stay and all of that that will be defined in the future.
Azhelle Wade:
Awesome.
Ashley Mady:
Yeah.
Azhelle Wade:
Reflecting back on Zigzoo's mission, how does Zigazoo engage parents and caregivers to be a part of their children's digital experience to foster this worry free environment.
Ashley Mady:
Yeah. In our emails that we send to parents, we also provide tips. And everything that we're doing for social media wellness month is going to provide a lot of tips for parents as well on how to talk to their kids about various things on social media. Because it's not just social media. I mean, kids are online in so many different situations, and they need to understand how to bring up these complex topics with their children. We're constantly communicating with our parents through email, and then we've recently aligned with parent tested, parent approved, and have been vetted through their network of parents as a great social app to be on. So we're making sure that we collaborate with them in a number of ways to educate more parents about Zigazoo and all the possibilities that are out there for their kids on social media, but in a very healthy way.
Azhelle Wade:
This partnership you have with parent tested, parent approved, great partnership. What else is coming down the pike for partnerships for Zigazoo?
Ashley Mady:
We partner with the biggest brands in the industry. So everyone from Penguin Publishing to Dreamworks to toy companies like Moose, they come on Zigazoo to build their brands and their fandom and to have a two way conversation with kids to get to meet their fans and inspire their fans. And we're proud to partner with the biggest brands in the world, like the NBA, as an example. The NBA, we have a commercial partnership with them. They also invested in Zigazoo. And then most recently, I heart Media invested in Zigazoo. And we've been doing a lot of different radio campaigns with them, and we've been involved in their podcasts, and a lot of those are to educate parents about the platform.
Azhelle Wade:
Incredible. I know learning is important. And when you're partnering with all these brands, how do you balance the entertainment side of Zigazoo and the educational side of Zigazoo and make sure it's still engaging for the kids on the app?
Ashley Mady:
Yeah, I think you can think of Zigzoo like a gummy vitamin. And one thing that keeps it educational is project based learning. So we were founded by two educators and parents, and they really believe in the power of project based learning. So the fact that everything has a challenge question and inspires kids to go out and do something is educational in its own right. Like, if you think of if kids need to learn fractions, they're, they could learn it in school in a traditional way, from a book. They could go learn it by, you know, serving pizza to the elderly and cutting up the pizza in different sized slices. And fair point, you know, where are they going to learn and retain that information better? It's when they're doing a project. So we really stand behind the educational principles of Zigazoo and the project based learning piece of it, and it applies to everything that we're doing.
Ashley Mady:
So even if XYZ brand made up a dance challenge for kids, kids are memorizing a routine. They're practicing their showmanship skills, they're practicing their editing skills. So even in things on the app that are really educational, kids are learning something by participating in anything that they do on the app.
Azhelle Wade:
Okay. I'd love to have a breakdown understanding of the content creation and approval process in Zigazoo. So the kids are creating the content. It could be the kids or the creators. Doesn't matter what level user you are, right?
Ashley Mady:
Yeah. So the kids, our general users, get to respond to the challenges.
Azhelle Wade:
Okay.
Ashley Mady:
The actual challenges are hosted by our kid creator network. We have over 700 kid creators on our platform. And think of them as the biggest creators out there. Gen Alpha superstars. They're on Nickelodeon or Disney or massive creators in their own right, whether they're gymnasts or dancers or spelling bee champions or Guinness Book of world record holders. If there's a kid out there doing something amazing, we generally find them, or they find us and we bring them onto Zigazoo. They view themselves as role models, are crafting the challenges that all go through our internal team to be published on our app. Brands and celebrities also filter in the challenges.
Ashley Mady:
Our general users get to respond to those challenges. And we also have a Zigazoo premium where kids can elevate their accounts to be able to prompt challenges.
Azhelle Wade:
Oh, that's so cool. And how many challenges are there a day?
Ashley Mady:
Too many to count. It's constantly feeding through. And the other interesting thing about Zigazoo is we don't timestamp challenges. So a kid could be searching on the app for rock collecting, because that's what they're interested in and find a rock collecting challenge from two years ago, and it feels like they're seeing it for the first time today. Things go viral time. And because of that as well, one thing that we can do that's really cool in the app is we can spotlight responses. So let's say the NBA ran a challenge on Zigazoo, and then there's all these kids doing the most incredible responses. We can pick some of our favorite videos and feature them in the home feed.
Ashley Mady:
So not only is everyone seeing that challenge from the NBA, they're seeing real kids responding to that.
Azhelle Wade:
Oh, that's so cool. That's so nice. How do you see Zigazoo evolving in the edtech space? Do you think that there's a way that Zigazoo becomes more than just a social media app and maybe it's an education arm?
Ashley Mady:
Yeah. There are so many interesting and exciting conversations that we're having now with different alliances or partner companies that, you know, want to embed themselves in our app, whether it's our marketing possibilities or just, like, bigger strategic partnership initiatives. And I think those are going to help unfold the future of Zigazoo. And it's quite exciting for anything to have a social component. And I think what social media is continuing to grow and change day by day. It's getting more gamified. We're continuing to evolve, evolve the app every day. That's one thing I love, that, you know, every day or week at Zigazoo, everything's totally different because we can shape the app into whatever kids are looking for and also what's happening in our external world and what the needs are.
Azhelle Wade:
I love that. That's so cool. How would somebody listening to this episode who has a kid and wants to get them involved with Zigazoo as either a basic user or a creator, what would they do? Where do they go?
Ashley Mady:
They should go to. Well, one, you could go to our website, zigazoo.com. You also go to the iOS or Google Play Store and search Zigazoo and just download the app. And I think the biggest for their kids is that they just start creating and start unlocking those experiences. We have lots of kids that become Zigazoo famous just by participating. And so even if their kid isn't necessarily a famous youtuber or something like that, yet they have the power to become the next big Zigazooer.
Azhelle Wade:
The incredible founders behind this kid only social media platform, Zach and Leah Ringelstein.
Ashley Mady:
And they are two parents, former educators, and they've done this once before. They created an edtech company and they sold it to Google. So they know what they're doing. They've built a best in class team and deeply care about kids. I think as you see the world of social media, part of it is, who's running the app? Who are the people that are behind it? What kind of ethics do they have? And one thing I could say, you know, sitting at the table of the Zigazoo team is everyone genuinely cares about the well being of kids.
Azhelle Wade:
My closing questions for today, what toy or game blew your mind as a kid?
Ashley Mady:
Ooh, so many. One of my favorites was the pogo stick, and it also just blew my mind just from a balancing trickster component. So, you know, love that. Love that.
Azhelle Wade:
Were you skilled with the pogo stick?
Ashley Mady:
I think I thought I was breaking a Guinness book of World Record. I don't know that I actually knew what the record was, but I would go out and do thousands, thousands of jumps on the pogo stick, so I thought it was special.
Azhelle Wade:
Wow, that sounds so fun. I love that. And it's a perfect ending to this episode. Ashley, thank you so much for your time today.
Ashley Mady:
Thank you.
Azhelle Wade:
Well, there you have it, toy people. If you love this podcast and you haven't already left us a review, what are you waiting for? Your reviews are what help this podcast get discovered by other creators like you, and it keeps me motivated to keep coming back week after week, organizing these incredible interviews and writing solo episodes just for you. So please take a moment. You could head over to thetoycoach.com review and it'll take you right to where you could leave us a Google review, or you could just scroll down wherever you're listening to this podcast and look for the review section and leave us a review there. If I see a new review come in, I will be reading it on the podcast. So please, please leave us a review. Thanks. Until next week.
Azhelle Wade:
I'll see you later, toy people.
Jingle:
Thanks for listening to making it in the toy industry with Jell Wade. Head over to thetoycoach.com for more information, tips, and advice.
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