NEW YORK, Aug. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, Nickelodeon Online will debut NickMail Maker on Nick.com, a first-of-its-kind animated messaging product for kids. A hybrid of email, instant messenger and animation applications, NickMail Maker allows kids to communicate with one another imaginatively with messaging technology that enables them to make their own animation.

"We wanted to provide kids with a safe messaging system that allows them to communicate and express themselves in a creative way," said Mike Skagerlind, senior vice president and general manager, Nickelodeon Online. "NickMail Maker offers kids a sense of community by connecting with each other in the Nick.com community, and a chance to explore their creativity by becoming 'animators' in their own right."

To create these unique messages, NickMail Maker includes a kid-friendly dictionary, offering more than 7,500 words. Kids can also pick from a variety of pictures including characters from The Fairly OddParents or other favorite Nick shows, sounds, and backgrounds -- some static and some animated -- to add more visual elements to their messages. Sounds from favorite shows, musical fanfares and audio FX are also included. These components will be refreshed on a weekly basis. The animation comes alive with the option to time specific effects and motions in the messages. Several pre-made messages are also available to send. Kids can also add onto existing messages and forward them to other users.

Kids can visit Nick.com to see a demonstration of NickMail Maker, but in order to send a message they must be logged on the site. Users can communicate via their "Nick Names" and icons that they use on Nick.com. Nick Messages can only be sent to those who are registered on the Nick website. When a user logs on to the Nick.com site, they will have a message bug alerting them if a Nick Message is waiting for them.

A teaser for NickMail Maker will be located on the Nick.com homepage, near the "My Nick" feature. A help section will also be located on Nick.com so kids can easily navigate the animation process.

NickMail Maker relies entirely on the anonymous registration system that already exists on Nick.com, and it does not allow kids to unwittingly divulge personal, identifiable information. As a result, it is kid-safe and COPPA compliant.

Nickelodeon, now in its 26th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 89 million households and has been the number- one-rated basic cable network for ten consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.

CONTACT: Joanna Roses, +1-212-846-7326, joanna.roses@nick.com; or Nancy
Hostler, +1-212-846-7491, nancy.hostler@nick.com

Web site: http://www.nick.com/

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