On the web facebook is the flavor of the moment, with 55 million users and a valuation (if you want to extrapolate from what Microsoft paid for a sliver) of $15 billion. So what's the next big thing? Three-dimensional communities. In a recent study Gartner predicted that by 2011 up to 80% of active Internet users, or 250 million people, will participate online in virtual worlds.rnSoon you won't merely be reading about your friend's day at work or blogging about a recent film you've seen, but rather your avatar, or 3-D digital character, will be watching movies and listening to music with your friends' avatars. You will walk through virtual malls together and dance the night away at virtual nightclubs. Millions of residents on dozens of virtual worlds are already doing so.
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