'Cog Togs' Help Keep Kids Safe On The Net

By Lori Fullbright, The News On 6

Sapulpa, OK  -- A Green Country family created a new business that lets children chat with their friends online, share pictures and play games - but only with people they already know.

The web site is safe for kids and can only be accessed through beads kids can hang on their backpack or wear on a bracelet.

A one-time code gives them access to the site, which means parents don't have to worry about people they don't know, trying to talk to them or asking them to be friends.

They each kid has their own on-line room they can decorate anyway they choose and have an Avatar they can dress in different outfits.

They can go to the Newsstand, find a topic that interests them and blog about it.

They can go to the arcade and play games or watch funny videos.

Melinda Ryan and her siblings wanted to create a safe place for their kids to meet online.

"I don't want them talking to anyone I don't already allow them to have contact with. I don't' want them blogging or seeing blogs of anyone I haven't said they can be around," Melinda said.

The website works with these bracelets with beads on them. One bracelet costs $30 and has one bead you keep and eight you give to friends.

When your friend enters the code and sets up an account on the website, they are only allowed to see and interact with the person who gave them the bead or people they've traded  with; no strangers, only people they know in person.

"My brother Max, my cousin Kayla who lives in Louisiana, my friend Tanner who lives in Colorado," Chloe, a Cog Tog user, said.

Chloe has traded with lots of her friends each person has a different symbol, like a smiley face or football or flower.

She can visit with them and only them on the website, like in the coffee shop.

No one else on the website can see or talk to them and there are no links that take them outside the website.

"I like playing in the arcade and the coffee shop. I can't pick between those two, both are really fun," Chloe said.

If you have more than eight friends, you can buy more beads to give or trade.

You can terminate a friendship and there are parental controls that allow parents to see everything happening on the site and choose times when kids can and cannot be logged in.

The business is based in Sapulpa.

You can visit the site at http://factory.cogtogs.com or become a fan on Facebook  at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cog-Togs-Inc/189243692982.