Virtual World Drives Meez Engagement up 50%

When the avatar service Meez launched its virtual world Meez Nation last week, it continued a trend of rising engagement.  The site began as an avatar service and added social networking and game features, slowly building more and more immersion. It seems that while avatars are the hook that provide users with emotional engagement and self-identification, whether in social networks, IM, or casual games, the wider context of a virtual world really convinces them to stay.

"Meez Nation is designed with a somewhat older user (18-19 year-olds) in mind," CEO Sean Ryan told the Virtual Economic Forum. "Rooms like our goth bedroom and abandoned warehouse were created to hold the attention of older teens, while also having an appeal for aspirational younger teens. Since we launched Meez Nation, average time spent on Meez.com has gone up by roughly 50%, so we’re clearly making progress in terms of our engagement goal."