In second life, the economy keeps on moving in the upward direction, although the number of the top earners dropped compared to September, 2009.
On the New York Times, it stated the dramatic increase in the sale of virtual good will be beyond 1 billion USD this year. For anyone making an income through second life, this is definitely good news. Third party apps such as Zynga's revenue keeps beating its previous monthly record and then are taking on 45 more employees. And more online social networks are beginning to open virtual stores like Lost Zombies in Ning.
Well, what does this all mean for individual creating and selling virtual goods? It means that people are more confident about making payments on the web, and more importantly, our perception of paying for virtual goods is changing. When I first joined SL almost 3 years ago, I rarely read of any articles about people buying virtual goods for their friends. Where as today, you can buy flowers and other virtual goods for your loved one and friends on networks such as facebook, myspace, and of course SL.