Contribute’s Janet Rae-Dupree had a great story yesterday morning detailing the philanthropic endeavors of Second Life avatars, an important topic in the virtual and real worlds. Anyone familiar with the success of the virtual world (both from an advertising and public relations perspectives) knows that Second Life is a unique way to target an audience. Today, this audience of 9 million users is beginning to look toward the land of Linden Labs for greater meaning. “When it comes to matters of the heart, it turns out that Second Life isn’t that much different from first life,” writes Rae-Dupree. Care and thoughtfulness seem to have a profound effect on avatars, with a range of charities and activists supporting “pixelanthropy.” 32 non-profit organizations have already set-up shop on a virtual office park dubbed “Nonprofit Commons.” Rae-Dupree also points to an island where real world donors can contribute to the action. “It’s pretty empty, for now – mostly just a smattering of technology-prone activists (including real-life philanthropists Bill Gates and AOL founder Steve Case) waiting for the party,” explains the author.

So, what does this mean for visitors to Second Life, the business community or agencies? Potentially a lot.

As we see an explosion of networks that connect people from all walks of real and virtual life, Second Life and other emerging virtual worlds will become an environment of great discourse and thinking, inexplicably uniting individuals on the basis of shared intent, interests and ideas. More and more people are beginning to understand the power of community and collaboration in ways they hadn’t before. Social networks, microblogging services and virtual worlds provide a new medium for social activism. “This isn’t just some fad or something new and interesting that we’ve grabbed onto,” says Jonathan Fanton, president of the MacArthur Foundation (truly an awesome organization), Serious conversations take place in Second Life. People are deeply engaged…

My firm works with many non-profit and association clients, many of who are always looking for the next shiny toy. As interesting as this development is, and regardless of what the opportunity may hold, proceeding with caution is important. The Second Life user base is significant, but the amount of traffic at any one time is significantly less. Efforts need to be considered against a risk analysis, ROI, and the true ability to meet philanthropic goals. That said, any time there is a new tool in the toolbox it is good news for companies and consumers alike.

Thanks David for your work on this post.

I have been on Second Life for almost a year – I guess I am still considered a n00b compared to some of the older folk that have been around since the beginning. And I admit, I first went into SL because I was reading about it everywhere, was curious to see what the hype was all about. Next thing I knew I was spending more time on SL than I should have – while my social life took a bit of a hit, I told myself it was research…and to some point it really was.

All this led up to Sunday, June 10, 2007 – on this day the Mexico Tourism Board (a Burson-Marsteller client) held the grand opening of the Chichen-Itza ruins in Second Life. The objective for the Mexico Tourism Board was really two-folded: to create a virtual replica of the ruins for people to visit and learn about the history – call it virtual tourism, which seems to be gaining popularity in SL. And at the same time, Chichen-Itza is one of the nominated sites to become a wonder of the world. Voters coming from SL get a traditional Mayan outfit, virtual of course – pretty revealing too.

The sim features El Castillo (main pyramid), El Cenote Sagrado, and El Templo de los Guerreros among others. Special attention was given to the builds, for example, there are a total of 91 stairs on each side of the pyramid, same as in RL.

One of the key highlights is the audio tour, residents ride on top of a large butterfly which stops at the various sites while the users listens to the history and background of each ruin. The market area features artifacts created and sold by residents, they were invited to set-up their shops free of charge. There will be weekly entertainment featuring various SL musicians such as Dann Numbers, Maximillion Kleene, Juel Resistance, Dexter Moore, Chronic Skronski, and Rookie Rossini among others.

The launch party was a great success, the sim had a total of 33,346 visitors, and traffic is holding up. Various events are scheduled for the next coming months. Come take a look for yourself:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Visit%20Mexico/195/60/37 (you will need to register and download the Second Life software)

In a recent study, Comscore reports that Second Life, contrary to recent reports, has seen an increase in active users in March. But what’s more interesting is that SecondLife is one of the few new “hot” digital spaces where the Europeans are actually more present than the Americans.

In March, 61 percent of active Second Life residents were from Europe, compared to 19 percent from North America, and 13 percent from Asia Pacific. In particular, Germans represent a significant users base with 16% of the total users.

It’s been widely said that blogging has been surprising low in Germany, a country which also has the highest number of eBay users, but these data show that it’s not that Germans are adverse to the digital conversation, more that they are interested in experience and real action.

It’s a question of each nationality/culture finding its own voice on the digital space.