Florence is a Stardoll
Stardoll is a fashion portal aimed at 8-12 would-be girl-teens. The principal activity seems to be dressing celebrities with different clothes from a virtual wardrobe. Only Florence (9) is qualified to give me any insight into this world.
PB: What do you do on Stardoll?
FB: You click on a celebrity, or an athlete, or a singer and they’ll come up with lots of clothes next to them. You click on the clothes and drag them to on to the person. You can do Princess Diana, and royalty. You can dress Queen Elizabeth in casual clothes or rich clothes.
PB: How often do you visit the site?
FB: Quite a lot, normally after school. The site’s quick and I can do it before tea and after my homework. And I do it a lot in the holidays.
PB: Did you know there are clubs where you can meet other people?
FB: No, I haven’t discovered those. I just enjoy dressing up people.
PB: How did you find out about the site?
FB: It was from my friend, Sophia. We were having games in ICT and we were allowed to play on different sites, and we were allowed to play on Stardoll.
PB: How does Stardoll make money?
FB: I don’t know.
PB: Did you know you could pay to be a community member?
FB: No. I just thought you went on to dress up people. I thought there might be something else, but didn’t want to do it without my parent’s permission.
PB: How could Stardoll be better?
FB: I’d like fashion advice on what goes with what. And the men should be more interesting …
PB: Is Stardoll better than Club Penguin?
FB: With Club Penguin you can’t really do anything without being a member. With Stardoll there’s no real reason to pay to be a member.
PB: Thanks Florence.
<end of interview>
Great insight from Florence. I quite like the fact that Stardoll hasn’t pushed a commercial route for Florence. I suspect she will grow out of Club Penguin, and Stardoll will provide a teen-aspiring environment in due course.
Stardoll’s real achievement, like Club Penguin, is that their target audiences are buzzing offline. But unlike Club Penguin which has the hallmarks of an impermeable classic, Stardoll will need to constantly reinvent itself if it’s to remain ubercool.
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