The August issue of Wired features an interesting look at the millions of dollars major corporations are pouring into Second Life – and how they are being wasted.

Although the article goes on to discuss the real number of SL visitors each week (about 100,000 Americans), the fact that the technology is outdated at best and the general emptiness of the virtual world, those statistics didn’t surprise me. I’ve been to SL. I couldn’t even figure out how to talk to someone, much less visit Coca-Cola’s Virtual Thirst Pavilion. (It’s a virtual world…why would I be thirsty?)

No, what surprised me was how companies like Coke, the NBA and Sears are going into it so blindly. “I think we’ve had 1,200 visitors [to NBA’s island],” said NBA Commissioner Daniel Stern. “People tell us that’s very, very good. But I can’t say we have very precise expectations. We just want to be there.”

Their “I did it first” mentality reminds me of a fourth-grade math quiz where I was so proud that I finished first. That is, until I got the quiz back with a big red “D” on it. (It was the only “D” I ever received, thank you very much). In my rush to finish the quiz first, I had forgotten a step for each problem and gotten nearly every one of them wrong. I didn’t think things through or figure out how to solve the problem. I just jumped straight from the problem to the answer, which seems to be the case for many companies in Second Life. Instead of thinking strategically about how to successfully market their company in the online world, they automatically jump to the assumed conclusion.

“‘There are two types of people out there: a small group that’s experimenting thoughtfully, and a large group that’s trying the next thing to come through the door,’ said Joseph Plummer, of the Advertising Research Foundation. Second Life appeals to the latter – the ones who are afraid of missing out, who don’t consider half a million dollars to be a lot of money, and who haven’t figured out (or don’t want to admit) that Second Life is less than the bold new frontier it appears to be.”

The article goes on to discuss the difference between the real and online worlds. Just because you have a bricks and mortar store in real life doesn’t mean SL needs your virtual store. What are people going to do there? Can they interact? Is there anything to keep them around for more than five minutes? Can they create their own experience there? No wonder Coke’s Virtual Thirst Pavilion had just 27 visitors on a random day in June.

Marketers, face it. Unless you creatively think it though and come up with a way to truly engage the avatars of SL (and the real people in front of their computer screens), save your dollars for the real world. I’m not saying SL is a wasted effort, but I think it is just the first big program in a virtual industry that will grow exponentially over the next few years. Don’t just jump on the wagon, calculate your moves and come up with some creative, unique ideas.

Speaking of fourth grade, if your friends all jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?

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