DO YOU NEED TO GET A LIFE?

Well, a "Second Life" that is.

This is something that has been really intriguing me of late, a website called SecondLife. If you aren't familiar with it, it's an online digital virtual world owned and created by its residents. And residents are in fact the 'users'.

In this 'virtual' world you can create your own 'new' identity and you can also buy, sell and own land along with other items such as entertainment. Second Life boast a 'population' of over 3 million residents since opening in 2003.

Now what really intrigues me about this concept, is the interaction between the real and the virtual world. Swapping your real life dollars for virtual dollars (in the special SecondLife currency "Linden Dollars" and back again into real dollars for use in the real world. This 'new' world has not escaped the attention of 'marketers' and many big organisations such as IBM, Sony, Nissan and Toyota own property and retails stores and even advertise in this Second Life world.

Only time will tell if Second Life is here to stay or a passing fad - but could you be an independent musician and market and sell your music through this virtual world? A folk singer Suzanne Vega performed live in Second Life to a virtual audience with a virtual avatar. An "Avatar" is your persona in the virtual world.

If you're intrigued about this new marketing concept, you may like to have a read of some articles I found here which discuss exactly how big real world companies are marketing in this virtual world and how it sometimes even overlaps with real world.

Strange but true!

[Resource http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/second_life_1_does_second_life_hold_real_marketing_value.php]