I’ve had an avatar on Second Life for some time now, but I’m hardly ever there. I just joined so I could attend events there and see what the fuss was about. The financial aspect is interesting from a social perspective - it’s bizarre to have someone try to sell you a virtual condo or virtual clothes.

What has been interesting to me is the more everyday aspects of life online - tools like social bookmarking sites tend to disappear into routine browsing after a while. Maybe less flashy research topics are more for me, but I could always have second thoughts.