Haven’t heard of Stardoll? zOMG don’t write this off as just a kiddy social network. 40 million monthly users and a strong commercial model makes Stardoll a fascinating example of virtual worlds meets online gaming for tweens.
What is it?
Describes itself as “a virtual paperdoll community site for everyone who enjoys fashion, design and making friends“.
The complete Stardoll Network is comprised of stardoll.com, Piczo, and paperdollheaven.com
Who’s it for?
Predominantly girls aged 7 – 17
Number of users:
Over 40 million monthlyy users (their stats)
Countries:
Most users are in the US or UK but Stardoll has members from around 200 countries worldwide. The stardoll currency, which is important to playing within the virtual environment, can be purchased via mobile phones in Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, UK, USA
A recent partnership with Maktoob allowed them to expand into 13 countries in the Middle East.
Key features:
- Dress up your own doll/avatar and those of celebrities
- Usual social networking features: interact with friends, share themes, play games
- Go shopping in a virtual mall for clothes and make-up from brands like Baby Phat, DKNY, Miss Sixty
- Celebrity partnerships with teen stars like Hilary Duff
What people are saying:
“a clear route to pleasing fashion-based ad networks. It also opens up the opportunity for e-commerce sales and affiliate marketing deals.” paidContent:UK
One of the ‘10 most popular Swedish businesses on Twitter’ MediaCulpa
“To be fair, the virtual world phenomenon is hardly dead. Worlds aimed at kids (like Disney’s Club Penguin) and tweens (Stardoll) remain popular.” Media Week
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Image: Duquesa Mercedes
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