If you want want to see an example about how powerful customer co-creation can be, I encourage you to enter the Second Life virtual community. Here some two million residents (of which about 100,000 are regularly active) engage with each other in a variety of ways – playing, talking, trading, etc. But what really distinguishes the place is that the residents of Second Life create almost all the content, rather than owner and initial developer Linden Lab. Key to this is the 3D modelling tool that allows skilled residents to build virtual buildings, machines, clothing, and a variety of other things to trade and sell in Linden dollars. Linden dollars, by the way, are pegged to the $US dollar and some of the most successful residents are now very, very real millionaires, tapping into the 140,000+ people (according to Second Life records) that spent money in Second Life during December alone.  

A variety of companies have been engaging in and with this community over the years, but just yesterday Sweden announced they will be become the first country to actually set up an embassy on the site, run by the Swedish institute, which will be primarily an information portal for the country. Could your company, government agency, or simply you benefit from a similar presence in this ever-changing world?

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