But if Club Penguin is not Facebook for tweenies, it does introduce young children to the world of online communication, to the idea of interacting with others via a screen. Players are not even allowed to tell each other their names. "It's one of the reasons why I recoil a little bit when people call it social networking for kids because you can't share any information, no one knows what you look like or where you live." It's really rare for kids to build a bunch of friends with people they've never met," he says. "The vast majority are playing with people they know. But although "Waddle around and meet new friends!" is a club slogan, it turns out that making new friends is not what life on the Club Penguin island is about.įor this reason, co-founder Lane Merrifield says that to describe the club – which is aimed at six to 14-year-olds and has more than 15 million users worldwide – as a social networking site is wide of the mark. Later, I realise that Clarence2011 should have made up his own message rather than choosing from the set menu. When Clarence2011, the penguin I have launched for research purposes, fires off his first speech bubble in one of the site's luxury customised igloos, "Hi everyone!", no one answers. M aking friends on Club Penguin, Disney's virtual world for children, turns out not to be as easy as I had hoped.
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