Most of these sites take advantage of the avatar to give the user a feeling of space and time. Many new sites such as IMVU, the Facebook app Shaker, and Tin圜hat are attempting to do just that by creating new worlds to interact with your old friends, and meet new people alike. In order for people to begin turning to virtual worlds to act out their social desires, the text-based interaction system that instant messaging currently relies on must be evolved. Although Facebook’s social networking is fabulous, it is hardly a replacement for social events themselves. Facebook has revolutionized how we keep track of friends and family online. The first thing that comes to mind when the average person thinks of the words “social network” nowadays is inevitably Facebook. As the world continues its trend towards more Internet-based social venues, virtual worlds are striving to bridge the gap between social networks and face-to-face interactions.

Outside of the gaming realm, virtual worlds lend themselves most naturally to the social world due to their interactive nature.

Imvu old version website