HarperCollins and BSkyB launch pre-teen girls networking site

by Paul McNally, Brand Republic 13-Mar-08, 10:15

LONDON - Book publisher HarperCollins has teamed up with BSkyB to launch a social networking website for young girls based around a character from one of its authors.

Lola's Land, due to launch on April 14, will be based around the fictional character Lola Love, the creation of teen magazine writer and author Lisa Clark.

The site, which is aimed at the pre-teen market, is being designed and built by Mykindaplace, the girls' website owned by Sky. Sky Digital Media will handle advertising sales.

LolasLand.com will be edited by Clark and will combine editorial content -- including pop star interviews and fashion -- with games and what HarperCollins describes as "safe social networking".

The project is the first launch from HarperCollins' new director of digital development, Mykindaplace founder Charlie Redmayne, who left Sky last month to join the publisher. HarperCollins is owned by News Corporation, which owns a major shareholding in Sky.

The publisher said the site, based on the 2007 novels Think Pink and Beauty*Licious, will be fully customisable and will allow users to build their own avatar, add friends and interact with each other.

Katie Fulford, the HarperCollins special projects director, said: "Lola Love has proved herself to be a great role model for girls, and it makes perfect sense to extend her life online.

"We have produced a responsible site that combines the editorial content of traditional magazines with games and safe social networking."

Mykindaplace claims to be the UK's first portal site for teen girls, launched in 2000 as a joint venture between BSkyB and Freeserve.

The site claims 600,000 unique users and around 11.5m page impressions a month.