The second bubble

There is a lot of talk about bubbles floating around out there in the blogosphere these days.

The latest item to spark a debate is the reported $1 million made by Anshe Chung - a Second Life character whose name is Ailin Graef. In a press release, she claims to have become the virtual world's first millionaire.

Vallywag's Nick Denton is sceptical of the whole thing, and I tend to agree:

The press coverage is embarrassingly breathless, but that's because it suits everybody involved.

It's cheap publicity for Linden Lab, the San Francisco startup funded by Benchmark Capital, Jeff Bezos and Mitch Kapor, among others ... The coverage feeds the egos, and the nominal net worth, of Second Life's most active participants, so they play along.

Here is my reply to his post:

If there is a bubble (and I think there is - it is just a much more selective bubble this time) Second Life will be the poster child when it bursts. They will be the Boo.com of the over-hyped side of Web 2.0 ... and they won't be alone.

You can quote me on that.

I've never written about Second Life, and that's mainly becase I think so little of it.

AKQA just opened an office in Second Life "in an attempt to hire new talent and attract ideas from the world's online inhabitants. The Brand Republic article continues, it will also host "AKQA Insight" seminars, allowing anyone in the world with a computer and broadband connection who is signed up to Second Life to contribute branding ideas." BBH, Leo Burnett and Arc are already there.

Please hit me on the head with something very heavy the day I suggest opening an agency in Second Life. An avatar-based virtual community? Were any of you around in the late 1990's? This is smoke and mirrors at it's best. Pure hype and VC dreams. Get out while you can.

I think there are plenty of more meaningful and real ways to reach out to trend setters, early adopters and other "influencers." Please help me understand why I'm wrong, because for now, I just don't get it.

More on Anshe Chung here, and here.

Technorati Tags: 2.0, hype, second.life