There's an article that just came out in the Miami Herald about Millions of people are investing time — and money — in avatars in the online universe.  It's interesting to see mug shots of people and the compare them to the avatars they create and operate in 3D Virtual Worlds like Second Life:

"…''There are tens of millions of people worldwide who live in virtual worlds and take them very seriously as a new means of entertainment, communication and social interaction,'' says Beth Coleman, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of comparative media studies who is writing a book on virtual worlds and their occupants."

"..While most of the other Second Lifers Freedman/Ancient Shriner met were building virtual homes and acquiring virtual clothes and accessories for their avatars, Freedman built Second Life's first Masonic lodge."

There's also money to be made in Virtual Worlds:

"…One newer benefit of virtual living is money. ''There is a great deal to be made,'' says Jay Yabrough, who lives near Tampa."

I think it's been said that in a couple of years, the majority of people who go online will have at least one avatar in one of the virtual worlds:

"…Among the most popular virtual worlds: Second Life (secondlife.com), which has about 6.2 million residents; There (There.com), which has about 750,000; Whyville (Whyville.com), with 2.27 million, and Habbo Hotel (Habbo.com), which has about 50 million worldwide."

B.L. Ochman noted a Gartner study that  80% of Internet Users Will Have a Virtual Life By 2011.  According to B.L.

The 3D, real-time Internet is around the corner. Yet enormous companies are still asking not only "should we blog?" but "what's a blog?" Hey, I got paid to explain that in detail to a Fortune 100 company only two weeks ago.

Gartner reports that by the end of 2011, 80 percent of active Internet users (and Fortune 500 enterprises) will have a “second life”, but not necessarily in Second Life.

Investigate and experiment with this trend, Gartner tells enterprise clients, "but limit substantial financial investments until the environments stabilize and mature." In other words, do that toe in the water thing big companies like so much.

When I was attending Search Engine Strategies 2 weeks ago I asked several Search Experts what they thought of Second Life and 3D Virtual Worlds.  Just about everyone brushed off Second Life as an interesting concept but doomed to fail.  Mind you…..that's exactly the reaction people had in 1994 when Netscape came out …. people thought the Internet was going to be no big deal.   And then Search Engines started appearing (to find all the new content) and people thought Search Engines were no big deal (except Google, which invented the first really good one - and became "Search"). Microsoft, did overtake Netscape but it ignored Search till after 2000, when it was much harder to catch up, and now runs a distant 3rd place to Google and Yahoo.

It was interesting to me that Search Engines subject experts, now becoming mainstream, conferences filled with suits…high end advertising and media companies, fails to get the idea that Virtual Worlds will be in 80% of our futures by 2011.   Well…IBM "gets it" and many of the larger companies are betting the rest of us get it too….eventually.    But I won't look for insight from the Search World …. they're way to invested in Search to want to see any alternative, or co-existence for advertising or branding besides Search Engines.

And that's going to be a fatal mistake, eventually, for many of them.  Search is being touted as the answer for many busiensses - but it's not.  Most of the time, I've found, Branding is far more important that Search, for many businesses, Search and Branding, working with great landing pages is where you want to go …but that's Convergence….not Search.  Search itself - leads nowhere.

In regard to what Enterprise companies should do now  - they should do what many are doing … experimenting with 3D Virtual Worlds.  The time to spend massively will come later, maybe in 2008 and 2009 - when the platforms mature and when infrastructure can better keep up with demand.

"….Gartner recommends that enterprises should experiment with virtual worlds, but not plan massive projects, and look for community benefits rather than commerce. “Find enthusiasts within your enterprise and support them. Understand the implications for access to open virtual platforms from within the enterprise and the risks involved,” Mr. Prentice said. “Despite the concerns within companies, don’t ignore this trend. They will have a significant impact on your enterprise during the next five years.”

You want to be the next Google - look here - but realize it may take another 5 years for Virtual Worlds to mature enough to be able to handle 80% of us.  Right now Second Live is limping along with about 30,000 to 50,000 active Avatars in Second Life at any one time (of close to 6 million registered Avatars).  That means less than 1% of the population of SL is active at any single time - and they're having bandwidth issues now.  Imagine what would happen if 1% of the world was in Second Life today …. at one time, that would be SIXTY MILLION People - or Avatars.

But let's not forget that innovations may make it possible, 5 years from now, to accommodate something like 60 million Avatars at one time in a virtual world - or interface the various Virtual Worlds together.  And if I'm off by a couple of years - if it's 7 or 8 years from now, that's o.k. too.

Point being - it's easy to write off Virtual Worlds now …. but all the directions point to it.  And while some Search Engine experts might not see the light - many larger corporations are hedging their bets - and starting now - realizing it's going to take a couple of years to figure out how it all works and develop their BRAND in the Virtual Worlds that the 80% of us are going to be in by 2011.