Second Life's Real Growth and Pretend Growth

Linden Lab released its latest numbers for the Second Life economy. On the surface, the headline is "ZOMG SL ECONOMY GROWS 65%!". In fact, the blogosphere has already picked up this headline, in the usual "Gee, I don't bother to understand the platform, technology, or relevance."

This is Linden Dollar (L$) transactions between users. Sure, it's the virtual economy, but this is not a meaningful number.