Notes from Millie D

Extremely Happy Feet: Disney Acquires Club Penguin For Up To $700 million

2 years ago we had Rupert Murdoch’s company bought MySpace for $700+ million, now we have Disney purchasing Club Penguin.  This may not sound that earth shattering but this could be a big deal in social networking.  Children seem to go through a sequence (Webkinz -> Club Penguin -> MySpace or Facebook) in the social networking world.

This is a logical purchase for Disney as they have resurrected their notoriety from kiddie cartoon channel to pre-teen/teen market with shows like Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Hannah Montana, and Cory in the House and movies like High School Musical and Cheetah Girls.  Can you tell I have a child in that target market?  Now Disney can merge that reputation in an existing social networking giant, Club Penguin, and produce a virtual DisneyWorld for the little penguins. 

For those of you who are not familiar with Club Penguin.  Club Penguin allows their users to create a profile and avatar.  Their penguin goes around playing games and interacting with other penguins, under supervision to promote safety.  Users create buddy lists and arrange gatherings trying to collect coins (not exactly a message we want to get across to children in my humble opinion).  There are sites out there telling users how to hack the system to get more coins (Do you see potential danger there?).

I wonder if this virtual world will turn as commerical as other places like MySpace and Second Life.  With cross promotion my world is going flooded with Club Penguin references.  Oh joy!