For me, one of the key functions in virtual worlds is a powerful search. In Second Life you can search for people, events, groups or places. And that’s it – until now.
The new release candidate 1.18.5 of the viewer has a new search with much more functionality: you can look for specific objects or search through the profiles of the inhabitants. Furthermore you can use operators like these from other search engines in the internet. And you can give your objects metainformation which will have an influence on the position in the result page. Maybe one of the next disciplines in internet marketing will be OSO: object search optimization.
Two sources to get more information about the new search in Second Life is the article in the German technology magazine Technology Review: Nadel im 3D-Heuhaufen (Needle in the 3D Haystack) and the post in the official Linden Blog about the Search Tip of the Week #10: How to use the new Search. The last one includes a video tutorial about how to use the new search.