About 1.3 million people worldwide logged into Second Life (SL) in March 2007, according to comScore. That is up 46% over the number of active residents in January 2007.
The virtual environment (purists don't call it a game) has a global following, with Europeans comprising 61% of residents as of March. Another 19% were from North America, and 13% hailed from the Asia-Pacific region.
comScore also reported that 61% of residents were male and 39% were female.
"With nearly 800,000 active residents in Europe, Second Life is proving to be popular on an international scale," said Bob Ivins of comScore Europe. "It's especially fascinating to note that the number of active German residents exceeds the number of active residents in the entire US."
According to statistics released by Linden Labs, creator of Second Life, SL had 5.7 million total residents (including people with multiple SL identities) as of April 15, 2007. Of those, 30% had logged in during the previous 60 days and 17% logged in during the previous 30 days.
eMarketer Senior Analyst Debra Aho Williamson said, "Marketers ought to pay attention to these statistics; SL may have a base of dedicated users, but the percentage of frequent returnees needs to go up for the world to gain real traction."
That has not stopped marketers from joining Second Life and spending real-world dollars to build destinations.
Reuben Steiger, chief executive of SL developer Millions of Us, listed the following fees in an AP interview: $75,000 to $100,000 to build a destination, $50,000 for six events and monthly support fees of $10,000.
"The advice for marketers interested in Second Life is the same as in the earliest days of the Web: Stake out your space, invest a small amount to learn and interact with users with care," Ms. Williamson said.
eMarketer's Social Network Marketing report, with coverage of virtual worlds, will be published in May 2007. To be notified when it is released, click here.