Doll Web Sites Drive Girls to Stay Home and Play

DOLL WEB SITES DRIVE GIRLS TO STAY HOME AND PLAY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Matt Richtel & Brad Stone]
Cartoon Doll Emporium, an Internet web site, allows kids to chat with friends and dress up virtual dolls, by placing blouses, hair styles and accessories on them. It is part of a booming phenomenon, the growth of a new wave of interactive play sites for a young generation of Internet users, in particular girls. Millions of children and adolescents are spending hours on these sites, which offer virtual versions of traditional play activities and cute animated worlds that encourage self-expression and safe communication. They are, in effect, like Facebook or MySpace with training wheels, aimed at an audience that may be getting its first exposure to the Web. While some of the sites charge subscription fees, others are supported by advertising. As is the case with children’s television, some critics wonder about the broader social cost of exposing children to marketing messages, and the amount of time spent on the sites makes some child advocates nervous. Regardless, the sites are growing in number and popularity, and they are doing so thanks to the word of mouth of babes, said Josh Bernoff, a social media and marketing industry analyst with Forrester Research. “They’re spreading rapidly among kids,” Mr. Bernoff said, noting that the enthusiasm has a viral analogy. “It’s like catching a runny nose that everyone in the classroom gets.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/technology/06doll.html
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