Innovations That Will Change How We Work, Play and Communicate in 2007

Authored by Ned Sherman on December 28, 2006 - 9:46am.

Ned Sherman, CEO & Publisher, Digital Media Wire: I had the honor of being selected as a contributing writer for an article published in the Business section of the LA Times today about innovations that will change the way we work, play and communicate in 2007. Co-authors included Microsoft's chief executive Steve Ballmer and Wired's editor in chief Chris Anderson.

Here is my contribution to the article:

THE TREND TO watch in 2007: Virtual worlds, one of the most populous of which is Second Life, a 3-D environment built and owned by its residents (currently about 2 million).

These digital playgrounds combine elements of social networking with aspects of a multiplayer online game. At Second Life's virtual marketplace, residents buy, sell and trade millions of dollars in digital goods. Even more fascinating from a business standpoint is that millions of dollars in real-world currency are being generated from the exchange of virtual dollars into hard cash.

A cottage industry is beginning to develop around virtual communities, with real-world businesses profiting from the sale of related goods and services. For instance, there's an e-commerce site that allows you to customize your "avatar" — the persona you create for yourself on line — and another company that puts together custom games for organizations that want to use Second Life for training and education.

Second Life may not grow to the scale of a MySpace or a YouTube, but it may be laying the groundwork for something that will.