http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117959179.html?categoryid=2450&cs=1

The article “Technology hasn’t killed the collective viewing just yet” by Susanne Ault is about the social network Second Life (http://secondlife.com). Second Life is a free online community program created by Linden Lab that currently has 4.2 million registered users. In October of 2005, they had 600,000 members. This social network differs from the likes of myspace.com and facebook.com in that it is an interactive avatar based community. Instead of viewing website URL’s, users of Second Life load up the program and then gather together, almost like other computer games (i.e. – War Craft) While the user is interacting live with other live users, the difference between this game and others is there is no violence or chaos. In this three-dimensional virtual world, people interact with each other. They could trade goods and services, or even watch movies. The user just walks around and decides what they want to do, just like in real life. The question most have, is Second Life a fad or will it be around for a long time? Too find out, I signed up for Second Life almost a month ago and tested this metaverse. From my experience I feel that Second Life does have all the tools to succeed in the long run.

While some might be skeptical of this online universe, there is so much happening, that you could be logged on for 24 hours and only travel through roughly twenty percent of the network. Users can interact with other users and buy and sell items with Linden dollars, which translates into real money. So while this program might be viewed as a game, there is a lot of money to be made in this social three-dimensional network. As a user I can buy land and advertise anything I want. While there might not be enough users to warrant paying for advertising space, media companies beg to differ. Showtime bought acres of land so fans of the show “L World” could come together to talk and view clips of the show. Brands currently found in Second Life include Aidas, Reebok, and American Apparel. Other media companies are buying “land” to market their properties. CBS recently announced an investment of $7mm in Electric Sheep, a company that builds worlds in Second Life. All of these examples indicate that Second Life is not a passing fad, but here to stay.