How to sell what you don't have as in virtual goods

So I am still self educating.  I spent hours yesterday evening searching for blogs I might learn from and bloggers with whom I might engage on a social networking basis. I found my way to www.chrisbrogan.com an amazingly high level, chock full of nuts website;  and  to http://crv.com/team/susan_wu, home to venture capitalist Susan Wu, where  I tried to understand how folks in Second Life make money on things that don't exist. Wu focuses on virtual goods and she predicts this coming trend will allow bloggers to monetize things they don't own. 

As an example, she identified  the "pokes" on Facebook as an easy-to-understand indication of this  right along with love and spirituality --- which drove the point home for me.  


I get it .... I think. Now that is my question to you.  What do you think?