Weblo - World of Virtual Properties
March 23rd, 2007 
I recently came across this site called Weblo. Weblo.com is a place where you can buy virtual property like countries, states, websites, web domains, etc. I’ve heard of online games where virtual properties have sold for crazy amounts of money, but this is something different. There’s no game-play involved here. From what I’ve seen, all you can do is buy virtual property or sell it. They also allow you to customize the contents of your virtual property page, but that’s about it.
This idea of virtual reality is somewhat crazy to me. I don’t know; maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but there is no way I would ever spend money on something that is intangible.
There are people that disagree with me, obviously. Those are the people that participate in these types of virtual communities. Apparently, Weblo is doing something right because Mr. Mirza (CEO) has claimed that the site makes over $90 per minute. That’s an astounding $5,400 per hour! I am somewhat skeptical, but the information came from a reliable source: http://redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=18896&hed=Virtual+World%2C+Real+Money
Weblo rakes in quite a bit of cash, but how about its members (or citizens as they call it)? Here is quote from their site on how its members can make money:
“As a basic (free) member at Weblo you get a free celebrity fan site and you get paid for the popularity of your fan site. Weblo puts advertisements on your fan site and you earn money every time someone clicks on those ads.
As a city or state owner you earn money from all transactions in your territory. This means every time someone buys a property or clicks an advertisement in your territory you get paid.
Cities and states grow in value as more people join Weblo and many cities have already re-sold for huge profits. There is only one Tokyo at Weblo and that’s why its sale price keeps going up!
Weblo properties and domains earn money from advertisements. Properties and domains go up in value and can be re-sold for profit just like in the real world.”
While it may be true, I really can’t see anyone making any substantial amounts of money from being a member. From browsing through Weblo, you can see that the virtual properties are only making pennies for its members.
As unique as the idea is, I don’t see enough benefits to join; not even as a free member. I see where all the real money is going: straight to Weblo.
