Warner Bros. is daring to tread where other media companies and major brands have unsuccessfully gone before -- into the realms of social networking and virtual worlds.

The company on Thursday revealed plans for T-Works, an online world where consumers can watch cartoons, create avatars, and act as a captive audience for the company’s marketing campaigns.

The entertainment giant’s new venture follows the concerted efforts by several large brands to enter the social media space this year. Over the summer NBC launched MyNBC.com and earlier this year Coca-Cola launched Sprite Yard, a mobile-only social network, though neither effort appears ready to threaten MySpace or Facebook.

So it may be for good reason that analysts are describing T-Works as a “high-risk venture” for Warner. But they’re also predicting that Warner may fare better than its competitors with its new online world since the company is planning to combine the tried-and-true components of popular social networks with the ability to view hundreds of hours of classic cartoons, play games, and create avatars and navigate virtual worlds using the company’s key animated characters.

“There haven’t been all that many attempts by major media companies to create these immersive characters. I’m not that aware of too much else to compare this one to,” said Gartner analystAndrew Frank.

T-Works will enter private beta in December and will be released to a general audience in the second quarter 2008. Warner will also use T-Works, which will be advertiser-supported, as a platform for launching original web-only content. Warner Animation President Lisa Judson said the company will start with two projects: a short form Batman series and a Wizard of Oz animation.

Where T-Works will depart from its predecessors is with its plan to make its avatars available for consumers to use across the web, including on sites such as MySpace.

Advertising industry experts have long bemoaned unwillingness on the part of trademark owners to put their brands into the hands of consumers who can use them next to content that might not reflect well on the company. (Think: Tweetie Bird on a MySpace profile page plastered with photos of underage drinkers.)

But Ms. Judson said many knockoff versions of Warner images and videos are already widely available on the Web, so the company might as well offer users the real thing. “We know that people are using our things and so we think we’re just best served by making the legitimate and authentic resources and assets out there and trusting our fan base,” she said.

Gartner’s Mr. Frank put it a different way. “It’s showing that a major media company has a willingness to try new things,” he said.