A juicy piece of information out of the keynote interview with Lane Merrifield, the founder of Club Penguin:

…we don’t send out automated emails. Every email to us receives a reply from a human. There may be common elements to the response, but each email from a kid receives a personal response …”

For instance, Merrifield says that the typical user email will say “Hi. My name is Brad, and I have a question about XXXX. I have a blue puffie called Gord.” The reply will draw from common elements to address the question, but will close by saying “say hi to Gord for me!”

That’s between 1,000 to 5,000 emails a day.

This has to be an essential element of creating a children’s site, both so they understand the answers to their questions, but also so they know that there are responsible adults out there making sure their playground works, reflects their needs and is safe.

[tags] social media, Club Penguin, social networks, children’s safety, MESH08 [/tags]