• Reuters, Friday, April 13, 2007 11:02 AM

The Brazilian airline TAM is set to become the first airline to promote itself in Second Life. The company will start offering cyberspace flights corresponding to its real-world international service. Second Life users will be able to put their avatars, or online personas, into virtual TAM planes and take flights to Second Life islands called Milan, Paris, New York and England.

As interesting as this sounds, it's also a bit odd when you consider that Second Life residents can fly. Promotions, of course, are the difference. "Avatars can fly there on their own, or we can take them there, free of charge, for which they get frequent flier points and gifts like a virtual aircraft or clothes," a TAM spokesman said.

It's hard to know whether Second Life is a serious promotional vehicle or simply a curiosity for the scores of companies establishing an online presence in the virtual world. The TAM spokesperson says it's a little of both: "It's more of an institutional marketing tool, for people to learn about the airline's destinations, and for us to be present in this new online fever." According to Business Week, only 1.6 million visitors have logged onto the site in the last two months, and only about 50,000 are online at any given time.

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