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Disney is raising your kids on social networks

Author and social media strategist Shel Israel gazes into the crystal ball and sees a future populated by children who learned everything they needed to know about how to interact online from a Disney owned Social Network or Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG).

When Disney Interactive provided Shel with access to some of their internal players and he asked them:

So what happens when this Online Generation grows up and enters the market and takes seats in the cubicles of your business? How will this Online Generation emerge? Will they be the same or different from their own parents in the market and as professionals?

Here are the answers of Walt Disney Internet Group President Steve Wadsworth and others at DIS.

Many of these comments shed some light on Disney’s recent decision to shutter their Virtual Magic Kingdom property. It just didn’t fit in their long-term strategic goals.

More at Shel’s Global Neighbourhoods blog.

3 thoughts on “Disney is raising your kids on social networks”

  1. Thanks for the kind words and link to this clip. I made a mistake in what I wrote. I visited Steve Wadsworth president of the Disney Internet Group, not the Disney Interactive Studio. The mistake was mine.

  2. I was fasinated by the inteview. Although VMK was never mentioned, there seemed to be some obvious references to it (“inappropriate behavior”, “not self policing”). I wish you had asked Mr. Wadsworth why an overlay of the chat controls used in ToonTown and installation of a “pay to play” front end on VMK, wouldn’t solve the VMK issues. It would save the investement Disney has made in VMK and become a source of income. He mentioned “commmunity” several times. VMK certainly qualifies in that respect. And there is a focus in VMK, namely a love for the Magic Kingdom and all things Disney. Have you heard of VMK (Virtual Magic Kingdom) and the uproar the players are in with the announced closing on May 21, 2008?

  3. I am appaled. Sorry if I spelled that incorrectly. You guys seriously think kids will ENOJOY the Pirates and Cars and Faries more than VMK? You did not mention VMK ONCE. You could have atLEAST said SOMETHING about it. This is just amazing. Seriously. I cannot even tell you my feelings towards this. They are too extreme.

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