Nat Geo, Tween Social Network in Deal for Online Kids’ Community

OAKLAND, October 15: National Geographic Digital Media has
joined forces with the tween social-networking site imbee.com for the creation
of the National Geographic Kids Group, an online community group targeted at
Earth-loving kids and tweens, covering content ranging from animals to
geography and culture.

The National Geographic Kids Group can be found within the
imbee.com network at www.imbee.com/group/natgeokids.
The site can also be accessed from the National Geographic Kids Web site at kids.nationalgeographic.com.

Upon joining the group, members will have the ability to
read and comment on the most recent blog entries related to various
Earth-focused National Geographic Digital Media programs, view videos, look at
images, and listen to world music. Content for the group will be updated
frequently and will cover animals, insects, plant life, geography, culture,
music and more.

National Geographic Digital Media selected imbee.com as an
online partner because the tween destination provides a highly controlled,
security-based interactive environment where kids can have fun creating or
sharing exclusive content with their friends, fellow students and family
members. All imbee.com subscribers receive user authentication, content
privacy, controlled scope of publishing and a built-in parental dashboard for
insight and control.

The first initiative between National Geographic Kids and imbee.com
involved the National Geographic Kids Hands-On Explorer Challenge expedition to
South Africa in August 2007. To help share the expedition members' experiences
online, National Geographic Kids partnered with imbee.com to create a custom
Hands-On Explorer Challenge group blog that showcased journal entries and
pictures taken by the 15 young team members during their trip.

Betsy Scolnik, the president of National Geographic Digital
Media, said: "There's something powerful about giving kids the tools to
express themselves and to share common interests such as a love of animals and
the environment that National Geographic represents. We hope that by using the
social-networking tools that imbee.com provides, kids who visit our National
Geographic Kids site can connect with other kids online who are inspired to
care about the planet and the people, places and animals on it, in a safe,
kid-friendly way."