• Fortune, Monday, November 13, 2006 11:45 AM

The magazine asks: Is Second Life over-hyped? No. Is it a business opportunity? Yes. Is it a marketing opportunity? Absolutely. Is it the future of the Web? Maybe. So far, it's signed up 1.3 million members.

For some people, the Net game Second Life is so much cooler than real life. For others, Second Life is their business. In fact, $572,005 has been spent in the game in the last 24 hours. Anyone can download the game's software (a light 4.0 KB) for free, and it's also free to play. But you can't do much until you invest in some Linden dollars, the game's currency, which trades at around L$300/USD, though it fluctuates daily on the LindeX Currency Exchange.

It's not really a game, but more of a new world where you just do stuff. And you can do pretty much anything. Every major business publication has covered the game, and it's growing economy. Businesses like Reuters, CNET and Wired magazine have even opened up news bureaus in the game. Yes, they actually pay their writers and editors to live in and play the game.

he W hotel recently opened up a virtual hotel there called Aloft. W President Ross Klein told Fortune that the PR value from all the stories written about it has resulted in a hundred-fold return on investment in publicity alone.

Fortune argues that while we're all caught up in the success of News Corp's Second Life, this is the real future of social networking-it is most definitely a new and largely untapped platform for advertisers.

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