• CNET News.com, Monday, August 27, 2007 11:03 AM

Last week, at the Second Life Community Convention, founder Philip Rosedale boldly declared that his virtual world would be "something that everybody on Earth is going to use," that it would someday be "bigger than the Web." Marketers, on whose presence the site partially depends, are starting to disbelieve the hype.

The audience Rosedale addressed may have been full of Second Life denizens, but much of his hyperbole was reserved for the media. Like Rosedale's opening keynote, CNET's Caroline McCarthy said panel discussions at the event, (consisting of business, education, social networking and virtual world animation, or machinima), carried a strong hint of "sky-high" possibilities.

Social networking, virtual worlds and even social networking through virtual worlds might become the Next Big Thing on the Internet, but there's no guarantees. Indeed, Second Life has been hyped for so long and far too many marketers have drunk the Kool-aid. Many are unhappy with their investment; others considered it an experiment, but don't expect marketing dollars to carry Second Life for long-especially if we enter into an economic downturn.

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