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, Bucharest
IIS recently opened the doors to its office in the online 3-D virtual world called Second Life, operated by San Francisco-based Linden Labs. As you have probably read in recent news, virtual online worlds are seeing explosive growth and Second Life is one of the most talked-about online phenomena this year. With over 8 million registered users and millions of dollars in commercial activity so far this year, Second Life has piqued the interest of many large corporations, including Reuters, Coca-Cola, and IBM.
Ipsos Interactive Services has created an office in Second Life primarily for the purpose of learning more about immersive 3-D environments and their residents for research purposes. An automated panel recruitment technology has been developed and is now active in our Second Life office, which will allow us to build a small panel of Second Life residents. This panel will be used to conduct ad-hoc research on virtual world-related topics.
Although the number of Second Life users has not reached critical mass worldwide and the profile of the typical Second Life resident skews younger and with higher education than average, momentum is building. Gartner predicts that by the end of 2011 80% of Internet users will be active in virtual worlds. By establishing a presence now and learning how to conduct research in virtual worlds, we will ensure that Ipsos remains in the forefront of Online research.
If you are a Second Life user, you can visit the Ipsos office at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ipsos/110/210/25/.
For more information please write to: communication@ipsos-interactive.com.