Keeping your teen website ranked in the top ten for four consecutive years is not an easy thing to do. It is even more difficult to retain a stringent teen-safe editorial and advertising policy at the same time.

A group in their early twenties who founded the www.dek-d.com website when they were at high school have shown they can make a site that is popular amongst teens while not running any content or advertising considered by most people as harmful to children over eight years old.

Dek-D means "good kids", though most visitors to the site are from 15 to 22 years old. Of the total, 34 per cent are college students and more than 50 per cent are secondary-school students.

Like many other websites set up in the early days of the Internet boom, Dek-D began as a hobby for four high-school boys at the Suankularb Wittayalai School. Waroros Rojana, Pakorn Santisoonthonkul, Sorawong Dararaj and Supiti Buranawatanachoke had a passion to give their schoolmates a chance to meet friends from different schools through the Internet.

Pakorn said Dek-D had benefited from being an "early mover", having been set up eight years ago when there were few teen websites. Through word of mouth Dek-D spread like fire.

"Initially we did not have a wide focus. We simply made a venue for friends to talk. We published our academic pieces and some short-cut tips for homework. Then there was a Web board, with school Web links. Friends from different schools began to join the website," he said.

Waroros, Sorawong and Supiti continued their study in computer engineering, the first two at Chulalongkorn University and Supiti at a US college, while Pakorn chose to study industrial design at Chula. After graduation, everyone except Supiti has been dedicated to working only for their own Web enterprise. Supiti went to work and study in the US but is still assisting Dek-D from a distance.

Dek-D has registered with Truehits.net, the official Web ranking authority governed by the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre since 2003. The statistics show Dek-D's Web traffic as measured by the number of page views increased by 331 per cent in 2003, 109 per cent in 2004, 115 per cent in 2005 and 88 per cent last year.

Dek-D has been ranked among the top 10 most visited websites in Thailand in each of the past three years and this year. There are nearly 100,000 visitors to the site every day.

"This year, we will grow by around 100 per cent," said Pakorn.

Waroros said Dek-D has been strict with its policy of not running nudity, violence or "nonsense" content such as a celebrity quarrels, MLM (multi-layer marketing) advertisements, diet pills and similar items, which are commonly found on many Thai teen and variety websites.

Waroros said that if Dek-D compromised its ethical policy, the website could easily attract even more visitors. "We must adhere to the concept of our site. We may get fewer visitors but that's alright," he said.

Pakorn said Dek-D considered all content on its site must be safe for children from eight years old and up. The team constantly monitors its servers and deletes content written by contributors to the Web board and blogs that is inappropriate.

An immediate challenge for Dek-D is to keep up with the rapid growth of the market. The website has doubled its total staff to ten this year. "This year is one of major changes for the Internet. Broadband has come, likewise the social networking, and 'Web 2.0'. We have watched these changes and will develop ourselves to stay ahead of the rest," he said.

Pakorn said teenagers now have more courage to express themselves. The popular "Academy Fantasia" reality show and other similar events have inspired Thai teens that one can change from being nobody to become a superstar overnight.

"There have been many cases where someone has become famous after he or she posted their photos on websites. Everyone has used the Internet to show off their talent. It's not like showing it off at school where only a limited number of people can see," he said.

Dek-D has been famous for its "writers" blogging column, which allows teens to write anything they wish to express. Publishers have found good stories on the website and republished them in paper format.

"During the past two years, there have been more than 100 books published each year, derived originally from stories written by teens on the Dek-D blogs," Waroros said.

In total, there are more than 200,000 stories written by teens stored on the Dek-D website.

Pakorn said Dek-D's challenge was to retain its top teen website status so it comes to mind first among the teens.

"I'd like every teenager to know our site because we're confident that we are offering them good quality content. I would like everyone to acknowledge Dek-D as a website for teens which they can trust," he said.

Sorawong is even more ambitious.

"I would like to see the 'quality society' on the site to expand throughout the Internet," he said.

Pichaya Changsorn

The Nation