It-girl game 'attracting lower-income groups'

2nd April 2008

Lower-income groups are over-represented on controversial online site Miss Bimbo, new figures reveal.

Search traffic monitoring service Hitwise has released data revealing that families living on large council estates with low rates of owner occupation and on lower incomes comprise a significant portion of the site's audience.

People living in close-knit inner city communities and manufacturing towns were also claimed to be over-represented on the site.

"Both of these groups are more likely than the average to have one or two dependent children," states Robin Goad on his Hitwise blog.

Playing Miss Bimbo involves engaging in activities such as breast enlargements, dieting, buying clothes and partying in a virtual environment.

Following controversy over its apparent endorsement of diet pills, the site removed this component of the game.

Bebo, the social network aimed at younger web surfers, was found to be the third most popular site sending traffic to the game.

UK women outnumber their male peers on the web for the first time ever, according to an eMarketer report released this week.