Facebook.com/britneyspears

Yes, you read that headline right. Those who don’t frequent virtual worlds may scoff at the whole avatar thing (they may want to scream, “get a first life before you start spending so much energy on your second one”), yet some of the brightest minds in Silicon Valley have been anticipating the rise of an entire economy around virtual goods and services. Revenues are expected to reach $621 million in the U.S. this year, according to a Piper Jaffray report cited by eMarketer yesterday. By 2013, the category will generate a cool $2.46 billion. Even Facebook is getting into the act. The social network is testing its own universal currency and celebrity Britney Spears is out in front of the trend, hawking virtual gifts here on her Facebook page. For 20 credits, the equivalent of $2, you can send one of 5 limited edition icons to a friend including a birthday cake or a gay rights balloon. (Supposedly there will only be 500,000 of each sold.) Meanwhile, Second Life reports a healthy virtual economy of its own; during Q2 virtual trading activity reached an all time high, generating $29 million while overall transactions reached a total of $144 million. Second Life is doing its best legitimize its fake economy. The site began clamping down on the use of automated “bots” on the site, used to artificially inflate inworld traffic figures. In short, there’s gold in those zeros and ones if users and advertisers can be convinced all this is real.

http://www.facebook.com/britneyspears

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