Here’s a kind of follow-up to a recent entry of mine (Link). There’s a story over on C|Net (Link) about real life people meeting in virtual spaces and forming relationships in real life; an appropriate story considering it’s Valentine’s Day. I know a lot of people are going to make a face when they hear this, but then these same people probably buy into the airbrushed images on the covers of fashion magazines or get upset when they hear a story on the nightly news that has absolutely no discernable impact on their real life whatsoever.

By the way, the virtual world Valentine’s Day “cards” have been flying fast and furious (I’ve even received a few). So where are American Greetings and Hallmark and all the other greeting card publishers? They basically turned this holiday into a cultural event didn’t they? You’d think they’d be out there providing a nice service for customers… and garnering some brand recognition. I’ve not seen or heard of any of them operating inside a virtual space other than the heavy-handed stuff where they form high-level business relationships. It certainly looks like opportunity is moving to not just another door, but another state – and these companies don’t have a roadmap. Is it really so hard to figure out a way to capitalize on this? So far every card I’ve seen is handmade by the sender.

And btw, this isn’t just a knock on the greeting card publishers out there. If you’re in the wedding supply business, you should be getting your brand on, people. I know one Second Life wedding planner/organizer who can’t keep up with all the weddings. Yet no real world company has contacted her to see if they can provide (branded) content.

Unreal.