Habbo Hotel, a burgeoning online community populated by some 55m Habbo characters is just one of the growing number of online places where consumers are spending their time networking and creating virtual worlds and alter egos. Spaces such as Habbo, My Space, Bebo, etc are defined by their fluidity, their speed to evolve and, most importantly, by their users rather than their creators. To flashback not very far, the last 12 to 18 months have seen the rise of a number of online networks that allow individuals to connect with each other by creating their own online presence which might include pictures, blogs and information , uploading content such as videos or photographs to exchange and then seek out their own or new friends via the site.
Between them, you have a significant number of sites that are occupying global consumers of all ages. Some of them have as many users as some countries have residents MySpace has m registered users, for example. Some develop a speciality Face Book, popular with college students, for example.
And everyone using them has discovered them by word of mouth. So how does the real world of consumer products become a part of it all? Helen Howells, of Target Entertainment, which represents Meegos, the popular MSN Messenger accessories, suggests there is no licensing model out there for this sort of property.
It's viral and constantly evolving whereas things on TVare, by their nature, more static. For other sites, city finance has proved keen to support and the media giants are circling anything that remains unsold with very large wallets.
In terms of additional revenue, some sites are selling products you can customise yourself but this is limited t-shirts and bags on Habbo Hotel, for example.
Not surprisingly, the Murdoch-owned MySpace is surging ahead with commercial experiments such as offering the site on mobile phones, a potential magazine and a music label. A more developed model comes into play in gaming communities where actual commodities and services that are needed to work the site are traded in real cash. Karen McNally from Entara, which is looking to extend the Habbo phenomenon through licensing, explains why Habbo was such an attraction.
Other standard categories like gifts, homewares and health and beauty will follow. Karen stresses that Habbo users have pride in the site and the community and that licensing initiatives must be careful not to alienate that audience.
Although she does admit this is a "leap of faith", she explains, 'we're not doing anything new; it's the property and the way it's absorbed by consumers that is new. So are these sites just the latest fad or, in the long term, will these online communities become concrete parts of all our lives?
There are a number of dilemmas for a traditional marketer. For example, although there is general agreement that they must and will make money, commerce doesn't sit comfortably with these word-of-mouth projects that change shape with the wind. There are also issues of censorship and, increasingly, of copyright. Recent reports have suggested that some owners of content posted on YouTube are considering demanding royalty payment following Google's expensive acquisition of the site.
Interestingly, no-one minded when the site was not in the mainstream Like the Pokemon phenomenon ten years ago, this is something that one generation understands entirely while another gazes on in wonder. There has been much written about how these sites allow today's cossetted children to meet other people, experiment with identity and find a platform for their frustrated creative ambitions. The sites combine all this with the thrill of having an unknown future.
Whether the use of third party licensee partners, a desire to create consumer products in their name or brand extension strategies are part of this, only time will tell. My home page starts with a CV of 'me' and pictures of my friends. My Bebo TV screen has a pop video but you can choose your thing and some people create their own animations. Ihave mail - it's mostly really annoying, lots of forwards. Since we started Phoenix New Times , it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Phoenix, and we'd like to keep it that way.
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