Club Penguin - the Second Life of the pre-teens
Posted by DavidM in Interesting stuff | 27 May 2008
When TV programs, the newspapers or people at work talk about social networking sites they use the standard examples - My Space, Facebook, Bebo and Second Life.
But they're missing possibly one of the most significant social sites of the moment. Club Penguin is aimed at pre-teens and is spreading fast by word of mouth. Bought by Disney for $700m last year, it is safe and entertaining and has got both my children, our neighbours children and all their friends from school hooked. Even Jo Wiley on Radio 1 talked about her child's adventures on Club Penguin. In fact, around 750,000 British children are thought to play the game.
Club Penguin is important because the next generation is growing up with it as a natural way of communicating with friends. My son even went on a date in the game, despite considering girls slightly less palatable than vegetables in real life.
And for a game aimed at children, Club Penguin has a high paid-subscriber rate. My children are a good example, playing for free for several months then asking for the annual subscription (£35 each) as birthday presents. I'm not sure many other social networking sites have the pester power that underpins Club Penguin.