acceleration in the metaverse
Second Life success stories
It is frequently reported that most companies that have established a presence in Second Life for marketing and brand promotion have not been very successful. This is probably true. In 2005 and 2006, several companies have built nice “3D websites” in SL, without planning how to attract visitors and build communities, and of course their efforts have not been successful. In 2007, most online marketing agencies and many of their clients have realized that the metaverse is all about dynamic content, communities and social relations, and have tried to do things better, but there are still few Second Life success stories related to marketing and brand promotion.
What _does_ work in Second Life is cultural presentations and conferences. I will mention two examples that I am familiar with, based in the Extropia Core community in SL, home of several collectives that consistently attract visitors to their events. The weekly Sophrosyne’s Saturday Salon consists of seminars and talk shows with well known guests, and attracts a regular crowd interested in Second (but also first) Life sociology, lifestyle and technology. The SL-Transhumanists collective organizes weekly seminars related to advanced technologies and their social and cultural impact, with a large audience composed by both regulars and newcomers. The next event, on Sunday, will be a seminar of Lincoln Cannon, president of the Mormon Transhumanist Association.
The current SL technology offers many effective presentation tools: voice, a Power Point equivalent, streaming video including direct webcam feeds in QuickTime format, and many others. Soon Second Life will offer shared web browsing and Flash video, which will make all web-based presentation tools immediately available. With the ongoing incremental evolution of technology Second Life, which is already a very good platform for cultural events and distance education, will become an excellent platform that will make quality content available to users regardless of their geographic location, in an immersive and almost addictive environment.
Posted by G.P. on 03/28/08
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