Create an Online Scrapbook for Your Family with KidJot – and Get a Year FREE!

Does it really matter to you how annoyed your friend is when she posts on Facebook how loud the person next to her is at the coffee shop? Or how your friend feels after staying out too late? But if you have a funny story about what your kid did, don’t you want to share it? And save it?

Kidjot (www.kidjot.com) helps parents and grandparents share and save the great stories of their lives. Through “jots” which are like little blog posts, family members can share with each other the important moments in their lives, share pictures, give “trophies” and generally create an on-line archive of their lives. As a special promotion for Family First reader, you can get a free year of the paid version, normally $10/month - see details at the bottom of this post. Kidjot also offers a free version.

Released in Fall of 2009, Kidjot was started by Chris Fawcett and his brother Jon so they could privately share with their families meaningful stories and keep in touch with family that they had moved away from.  With a background in product development and programming, they were able to create this online community with their own American ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit.

The tool displayed small jots like a blog post – with photos and blurbs of the story so when you open the tool, you see a dashboard of all your friends and family’s posts. You “friend” people similar to Facebook but all the interaction is private to one family.  

Unlike Facebook where your posts disappear after 90 days, Kidjot posts can be archived for up to a year with the pay version, which is a mere $10/month. Also unlike Facebook, there is no random search of people; the only way to connect is via invitation.  You can share on Facebook via an interface on the site. Once posts are shared on Facebook, they can be shared anywhere.

You get an email whenever anyone posts something new and the most recent posts pop up in the top left position. No more digging through emails to find that cute picture from last Halloween.   Jots are easily filtered by person or family and fully searchable. 

Kidjot preserves those family stories that are told every year, “every story families tell every Thanksgiving,” says Fawcett. Besides stories and photos, families can post report cards, newspaper clippings, or any other items they want to share.

Fawcett’s mother , a educator, came up with the idea of giving people virtual trophies when someone accomplishes something significant, like “Johnny’s first home run,” he suggests. Kids can look at their trophy page on Kidjot to see what they’ve been awarded. Parents can then use this as a motivator for their kids – “if you do this…I’ll write a post and you might get a trophy.”

Ten years from now, kids will be able to read a story about the day they were born. Twenty-five years from now, a mom can share her first day of school with her daughter.  Fifty years from now, grandchildren can discover the history of their grandparents.  Kidjot fills a niche in the market that parents need:  a simple, fast, and easy way to preserve the best moments of their kids lives.

Visit the Kidjot website  or “like” them on Facebook . Kidjot has a very special offer for Family First readers. If you follow the instructions below, you can have access to ONE FREE YEAR – a $120 value. Here’s how:

1. User goes to Kidjot.com and signs up for an account.

2. User sends an email to offers@kidjot.com with the subject of FAMILY
FIRST OFFER and the username they signed up within the body of the email.

3. They’ll activate the account for one year.

You must sign up by September 30, 2010 to take advantage of this generous offer.