The Blog

The Second Life of Second Life (Fast Company)

2008-10-16T11:48:00.000-07:00

Note from Joni: This is a correction to the article that appeared in Fast Company magazine. There were a number of inaccurate statements including mention that I was a "sign maker" which I never was (I'm an established fine artists). The article below has been corrected and updated by Fast Company magazine.

The Second Life of Second Life (Fast Company)

By: Arianne Cohen

A-list companies are returning to the virtual world of Second Life with new methods of customer interaction.

When the online virtual world Second Life first got hot a couple of years ago, Dell was among the companies that joined the craze. The computer giant built four islands: a factory where users could build custom PCs, a theater, a model of Michael Dell's dorm room, and a nursery promoting a plant-a-tree program. "We learned right away that maintaining these areas requires a lot of resources," says Laura Thomas, an e-business consultant at Dell who headed the efforts. Of course, if customers had followed, there would have been no problem, but "there wasn't enough usage of the space to justify the resources needed to keep it dynamic." Dell dismantled the factory last year, right alongside dozens of other companies that scrambled to stanch their bleeding Second Life budget line items. Second Life was over before it had begun.

Linden Labs, its creator, was surprisingly sanguine about companies fleeing. "Our focus has been to build technology that enables users and then stand back and watch what people do, instead of supporting a particular use of Second Life," says Glenn Fisher, Linden's director of business programs.

At the sametime, Joni West, a feisty San Francisco-based fine artist and business-development consultant, stepped into the breach. "I saw all these huge virtual spaces -- Adidas, Starwood Hotels, Dell -- and they were all empty," says West, 47. "It was ridiculous."

Why You Should Have Your Next Business Meeting in Second Life (Fast Company)

2008-09-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

By: Kermit Pattison

Fast Interview: Second Life founder Philip Rosedale talks about how SL is open for business, the allure of virtual meetings over real ones, and why he stepped down as CEO.

Second Life, the virtual reality site, is reaching out to a new audience: businesses. SL is seeing an uptick in traffic for business meetings, conference calls and classes -- and that's welcome news for a site that has long struggled to retain users.

How much of your traffic is business and education users?

Our estimate is it's in the 15 to 20 percent range right now of overall usage. But it's very hard to say because the world is this very open environment and it's difficult for us to survey it. Second Life right now is just a little under a million hours of use per day and a little bit more than 200,000 different people using it. When we talk about those percentages, I guess that means tens of thousands of people using it for business and education.

Opportunities and perspectives in SL for small businesses and educational projects

2008-09-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

Interview with Joni West, “This Second Marketing LLC” President. Interviewer: Ruslan Browa

Ruslan Browa: Joni, please tell us how small businesses are represented in SL today. What is necessary to do for organization and success of their business operations in SL? What are the their perspectives? How can a large marketing company like yours help them in launching and running their business in SL? In what areas and with which activities you can help? Do you plan to make some special training courses for small business?

Joni West: As far as I can tell, the small businesses that are in Second Life are entirely virtual. For example, they sell virtual clothing for avatars, or houses, vehicles, furniture and the like. I am not familiar with what, if anything, small real world companies are doing SL since I have not read any media coverage about them. It is impossible to know everything that is going on in Second Life because no one, not even Linden Lab, keeps track.

When a company opens an account in SL, they don’t enter their company name. I am sure there are a lot of IT people playing around with Second Life for their large and small companies but again, we have no way to know unless they get some sort of media coverage.

Tweet, tweet - there's been an earthquake (Toronto Star)

2008-06-02T10:14:00.000-07:00

How an online social network chirpily called Twitter is becoming anything but trivial

Jun 01, 2008 04:30 AM

Murray Whyte
Staff Reporter

In Akron last week, JuggleNuts coded 250 death certificates in a single day. "A new record," he said. In Bakersfield, jcjdoss "(j)ust bit into a rotten apple... almost barfed." Seconds later and half a world away, sauj in Auckland, New Zealand, shared a moment that was, he said, "Beautiful: the early morning train, witnessing the gentle pink blushes or the sun reflected on the wind-caressed waves of the Orakei basin."

Random musings, mundane updates, boredom-fuelled brain farts, the rare poetic outburst – all constant fare on Twitter, the online social-networking (think: Facebook) world's fascination of the moment.

Until very recently, Twitter could have been regarded as little more than that: an always-on inanity machine, indulging spontaneous tedium. In the past two months, though, those narrow parameters have broadened considerably.

The Virtual World of Recruiting (HRZone.com)

2008-06-01T10:01:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaThe use of virtual worlds as a recruitment tool has been much hyped of late – TMP hosted the UK's first ever 'virtual world' careers fair last year; Kelly Services launched its own island in Second Life; and GCHQ, the government intelligence organisation, has been advertising in online gaming to tempt web-savvy graduates to become spies.

But how is it possible and what does it mean to use virtual worlds as a recruitment tool? Is this wave of technology really going to dwarf social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace? Is it merely an over-hyped media gimmick or the next evolution of the web?

To the less technologically savvy, the idea that virtual worlds could be used as a recruitment platform may seem a strange and surreal proposition restricted to the realm of the computer geek, but employers – including RBS, Yell, KPMG and IBM – are discovering that it can be a highly effective medium to interact with candidates.

Overstock.com Creates First Storeroom in SL (MNN)

2008-05-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

Germany's award-winning musician, DonFranko Dagostino, moved the crowd with his enchanting vocals in celebration of the grand opening of "Club O", Overstock.com's emergence into the Second Life virtual market place. Founded in 1997, Overstock.com pioneered the online sale of surplus merchandise. Rivaled by popular websites like Amazon.com and Ebay, Overstock.com's presence in Second Life indicates an aggressive marketing strategy aimed toward Second Life residents who, through the existing virtual market-place, have embraced the emergence of the on-line shopping experience.

READ MORE...

My Virtual Summer Job (Wall Street Journal)

2008-05-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

Ellen Weinstein

With summer jobs in short supply, more young people are pursuing money-making opportunities in Web fantasy worlds. Alexandra Alter on the new online workers.

By ALEXANDRA ALTER

While his friends scramble for jobs flipping burgers or bagging groceries this summer, 18-year-old Mike Everest will be working as a trader in the fantasy Web world of Entropia Universe, buying and selling virtual animal skins and weapons. His goods exist only online, but his earnings are real. In the past four years, he's made $35,000.

Mr. Everest, of Durango, Colo., is among a new breed of young entrepreneurs seeking their fortune online in imaginary worlds.

READ MORE...

How Second Life Affects Real Life (Time)

2008-05-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

About a year ago in my first visit to Second Life, the popular online virtual world, I spent half an hour trying to make my avatar, or online character, look like a hotter version of myself — which isn't easy when you don't know how to use the tools. When I finally made it onto Money Island to mingle, a stranger approached me and said, "Hello there, Devon." I froze. Then I tried to run. I was desperately searching for the teleport tool when my sister walked into the room, peered over my shoulder at the computer screen and said, "Why'd you make your avatar ugly?" I logged off.

I didn't realize how instructive my sister's question was until recently, when I discovered research being done at Stanford University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL).

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Nothing can stop it - the blog!

2008-05-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaThoughts on the ever-mutating Web life form

Blogging Heroes: Interviews With 30 of the World's Top Bloggers
Edited by Michael A. Banks
Wiley, 298 pp., illustrated, $24.99

Second Life Gets Its Virtual Auteur: Douglas Gayeton and Molotov Alva (Huffington Post)

2008-05-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

econd Life now has is own film auteur.

He is Douglas Gayeton; and his movie, debuting tonight May 15 as a half hour on Cinemax Reel Life, is Molotov Alva and His Search for the Creator" --a unique and ground-breaking kind of documentary about Second Life, from HBO Documentary Films, constructed entirely as a sequence of dispatches from the online virtual world it's portraying.

Is this "Second Life odyssey," about a man who shucks his old bricks and mortar life to reinvent himself in the realm beyond the computer screen, the first glimpse of the future of moviemaking? Well, maybe that's a stretch, although it has been called "Filmmaking 2.0." And Douglas, with whom I've had the adventure of working with several times and who's become a great friend, is exactly the kind of visionary hybrid multi-talent suited for the cross-platforming future of entertainment media. He directed and with author William Gibson co-wrote the interactive filmic CD-Rom version of Johnny Mnemonic in the mid- 90's, a much more successful venture than the big screen stinker of the same story directed by Robert Longo.

Why Twitter Matters (BusinessWeek)

2008-05-16T09:40:00.000-07:00

Can the fledgling microblogging service become a social media powerhouse to rival giants like Facebook—or will it be gobbled up?

It's easy to laugh at nonsense on Twitter, the microblogging rage. "My nose is leaking," writes someone called Zapples, "so imma go to sleep now.…" But I've heard lots of similar drivel (and even produced some myself) on the phone—an important technology if there ever was one.

The key question today isn't what's dumb on Twitter, but instead how a service with bite-size messages topping out at 140 characters can be smart, useful, maybe even necessary. Here's why I'm looking. In the last few months, the traffic on Twitter has exploded, growing far beyond its circles of bleeding-edge tech enthusiasts and hard-core social networkers.

Overstock.com and This Second Marketing featured on REAL BIZ in SL

2008-05-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

Joni West (aka Joni Rich) from This Second Marketing was a recent guest on REAL BIZ in SL, opening the show with a discussion about her client Overstock.com who just opened a presence in Second Life. Joni and host Cybergrrl Oh tour Club Oh, Overstock.com's presence in the virtual world.

Watch the clip:

Overstock.com Grand Opening in Second Life

2008-05-05T15:00:00.000-07:00

(view photos from the opening event)

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/This%20Second/147/209/26

Overstock.com, the leading online "outlet store" is opening a virtual store in Second Life to raise awareness of their brand and the incredible bargains available on brand-name merchandise for sale over the internet on their site. You can find fantastic prices on everything you need for your first life at www.overstock.com.

The virtual store contains branded kiosks that dispense a link to the site, details of the current Overstock.com promotion in Second Life, and 2 shopping bags full of freebies, one for males and one for females!

Overstock.com is running a special 3 month promotion starting May 1, 2008 called "O WOW!!!" Overstock.com is buying hundreds of virtual items from retailers around Second Life and then, about 3 times per day, randomly giving them away to people who visit the Overstock.com virtual store or leave their names in the suggestion box! It's a great way for the company to bring business to the local Second Life merchants.

There are 3 official Overstock "O WOW!!!" promoters in Second Life (do not accept Overstock.com items from others claiming to be brand reps). They are Joni Rich, Robin Roar, and Olorle Sartre. If you miss the promoters, simply drop a notecard with your avatar name into the suggestion box and you will be eligible for the premium freebie give-away that day.

To celebrate the opening of the virtual Overstock.com store, the company hosted a live performance by DonFranko Dagostino in the store on Saturday May 3rd at 1:30 SL Time. DonFranko is a very popular performer in Second Life and if you would like to see why, you can visit http://www.myspace.com/frankberensanightonbroadway. There were lots of freebies given away that day and Lindens were given to the best dressed avatars at the performance.

Overstock.com is the latest real world brand that This Second Marketing LLC has introduced to Second Life. The Overstock.com store is located on the agency’s private island called This Second Island where several large real world brands have created successful launches in Second Life including Coffee-Mate, Colgate, CareerBuilder.com, IMAX, 1-800-Flowers and more.

Joni West (avatar name Joni Rich), President of This Second Marketing LLC, attributes the phenomenal results her brand clients achieve to the agency’s focus on engaging the Second Life community and not simply building places and expecting people to show up.

“We love Second Life and insist that our brand clients bring something of value to the community whether that is in the form of sponsored entertainment, great freebies, or creative contest challenges. So far, we have had a remarkable string of successes using this strategy.”

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/This%20Second/147/209/26

(view photos from the opening event)

Second Life Marketing: Still Strong

2008-05-05T14:51:00.000-07:00

Rumors of the death of virtual world marketing are greatly exaggerated, says Second Life expert and author Au. Here, several ideas to resuscitate revenue

by Wagner James Au

Almost exactly two years ago, a BusinessWeek cover story about Second Life sparked a swarm of interest from real-world companies looking to advertise in the user-created virtual world. Most of the early efforts were glorified 3D billboards that drew little reaction, and so the gold rush quickly died down. But that doesn't mean the notion of marketing in virtual worlds died with it. The three largest "metaverse" ad agencies have merely shifted their focus to worlds with larger user bases and less free-form creativity than Second Life. And new marketing campaigns continue to show up in Second Life as well.

READ MORE...

How non-profits are using social networking to raise money and awareness

2008-05-04T09:39:00.000-07:00

Charities see potential in tapping young Web users to promote their causes online

By Wailin Wong |Tribune reporter

April 30, 2008

Online social networks used to be just gathering places for friends and long-lost acquaintances. Then the marketers arrived, followed by politicians and job recruiters, all looking to tap into a growing mass of young people who are spending much of their time on the Web. Now, non-profit organizations are testing ways to raise money through these networks, betting that the Internet's viral nature will open fresh avenues for fundraising and marketing.

It's a big change for non-profits as they shift from direct-mail campaigns and relying on the checkbooks of older givers to the unpredictable whims of Web popularity. Though the transition is nascent, charities see potential in recruiting young activists who already use online networks to broadcast their identities and make connections.

Read More...

Why Marketers Love Small Social Networks

2008-04-29T20:46:00.000-07:00

April 27, 2008

By Betsy Cummings

Marketers who think bigger is better may want to reconsider, at least when it comes to social media. Ad spending on those sites is predicted to top $1.6 billion this year, according to eMarketer. However, much of it will be plunked into smaller, emerging social networks.

While My Space and Facebook get all the attention, social media focused on topics as remote as knitting or bird watching can be a strong branding target these days, said Anthony Acquisti, strategy supervisor with emerging media at OMD, New York. His running tally of emerging social networks, now up-wards of 7,000, is evidence of an explosive market.

These more focused audiences should be popular with brands because "relevance," he said, "trumps size."

READ MORE...

Investors Pour $184M into Virtual Worlds

2008-04-27T21:54:00.000-07:00

25 April 2008, 11:14
by Ken Schachter

Real money is going into virtual worlds.

More than $184 million was funneled to 23 companies that run virtual worlds in the first quarter, according to a new survey.

The study by Virtual Worlds Management, an Austin, Texas-based trade show and research company tallied $184.2 million invested worldwide, with more than one-third of the cash infusions going to youth-oriented virtual worlds.

READ MORE...

McKinsey: ignore Second Life at your peril (Times UK)

2008-04-27T21:51:00.000-07:00

Companies which do not embrace virtual worlds risk missing the next wave of the web's development, the consultancy said

Virtual worlds such as Second Life will become an indispensible business tool and vital to the strategy of any company intent on reaching out to the video-game generation, one of the world's leading consultancies has said.

McKinsey & Company, the management consulting firm whose observations about corporate behaviour are closely watched, said that virtual worlds were on the cusp of a major expansion - particularly as a way to reach younger customers - and that companies were "ignoring them at their peril."

A senior consultant at the company, which generally shies away from making public statements because its clients include major high street brands, said that any consumer-facing business "absolutely" had to be "experimenting in virtual worlds" if it wanted to get the attention of under 30s.

Organic CEO Kingdon Leaves for Second Life (ADWEEK)

2008-04-23T14:03:00.000-07:00

Mark Kingdon

NEW YORK Mark Kingdon, CEO of Omnicom Group digital agency Organic, is leaving the shop to take the post of chief executive at Linden Lab, the company behind the virtual world Second Life.

Kingdon led Organic for seven years since taking over from agency founder Jonathan Nelson in 2001. The shop plans to begin a search for his successor immediately. Chuck Russo, Organic's chief development officer, CFO Marita Scarfi and Nelson will serve on a steering committee until a new chief executive is named.

READ MORE...

Second Life Economy Grows 15% from Q4 to Q1

2008-04-20T21:28:00.000-07:00

The Second Life economy does not appear to be affected by the slowing economy of the United States.

User to User Transactions. Total user to user transactions, a measure of the gross domestic product in Second Life, grew from an annualized rate of $261 million in Q4 to just over $300 million in Q1. The economy has grown 33.6% since the low point after the gambling ban.

'Molotov' to debut on TV and online (Hollywood Reporter)

2008-04-20T21:19:00.000-07:00

No better place than the Internet for HBO to release a new documentary set in virtual reality.

"Molotov Alva and His Search for the Creator: A Second Life Odyssey," which premiers on Cinemax on May 15, will also be shown on Cinemax.com and on the Second Life virtual area Cinemax Island.

READ MORE...

See the Cinemax site for more information.

View Molotov Alva's YouTube videos.

Go to Molotov Alva's Site.

Second Life Slowly Turning into a Record Store (WIRED.COM)

2008-04-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

Keiko Takamura has figured out a way to sell her music inside the Second Life virtual world. Using a rough approximation of an iPod that she calls the myPod, Takamura allows Second Life citizens to preview her music and buy songs in the MP3 format using Linden dollars. The transaction happens entirely within Second Life, but the customer walks away with an MP3 that can be played outside the game.

READ MORE...

Apple stores to get virtual counterparts?

2008-04-20T20:25:00.000-07:00

FROM CNET.com:

A patent filing by Apple is prompting speculation that the Mac and iPod maker could be getting ready to open up Apple stores in the virtual realm--perhaps in Second Life.

On Thursday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple titled "Enhancing online shopping atmosphere," filed in September 2006. The PTO's action was first noted by the Mac news site MacNN.

Judging by the patent application, the company apparently is looking to do more than just spruce up its own Apple Online Store. Rather, it seems interested in creating a whole new experience for consumers looking to buy its products via the Web.

Read More...

FROM GIGAOM:

Apple Store To Go Virtual?

That’s the theory of MacNN, at least, citing an Apple patent application published on the US government site last Thursday, somewhat obscurely entitled “Enhancing Online Shopping Atmosphere”.

The patent application’s stated goal is to create an online shopping experience that doesn’t feel “sterile and isolating” like a traditional retail website, and includes a diagram depicting stick figures walking around in a retail store with an Electronics, Books, and Music section, underneath a sun– i.e., MacNN speculates, in a virtual world like Second Life. “[V]isitors are represented by avatars selected by those visitors,” the application notes, “rather than a more generic or uniform icon.”

READ MORE...

Microsoft MVPs gathering; Microsoft in Second Life and Microsoft NASCAR won't go (NetworkWorld)

2008-04-17T08:53:00.000-07:00

...Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Second Life -- Microsoft must have gotten jealous of IBM's announcement earlier this month about its plans to build Second Life business centers for customers, starting with its own center. While Microsoft's announcement isn't so extreme, today, Chris Avis posted a notice on his blog that Microsoft will hold a Windows Server 2008 launch event in Second Life on April 26. Avis is a Microsoft trainer (oops, sorry, in Redmond-speak that should be Microsoft IT Evangelist), and you can look him up at the event by locating his SL avatar, Loper Markova, he says...

READ MORE...

Second Life Carbon Offset Store Features 4Offsets.com (TransWorld News)

2008-04-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

Carbon Offset provider 4Offsets, llc announced that it has partnered with Jorel Ventures to open a store in Second Life featuring CO2 Offsets from www.4Offsets.com. The store, which opens immediately, will be the exclusive source of 4Offsets products in Second Life. 4Offsets, llc and Jorel Ventures are the first to offer Carbon Offsets in the virtual reality world operated by Linden Labs.

The establishment of a presence in the very popular Second Life, virtual reality (VR) world is just another step in 4Offsets’ campaign to let the public know that Carbon Offsets are a both a simple and affordable way to fight global warming.

“Our goal at 4Offsets is to get the average citizen involved in the fight against global warming and supply them with offsets. Second Life is a great venue to both spread the word and connect with forward thinking, creative people”, 4Offsets CEO Fred Weiss continued, “Second Life is a great place for 4Offsets, because not only can discuss we Global Warming, we can actually allow participants to offset the CO2 emitted from their virtual footprint”.

READ MORE...

The Blog

The Second Life of Second Life (Fast Company)

Why You Should Have Your Next Business Meeting in Second Life (Fast Company)

Opportunities and perspectives in SL for small businesses and educational projects

Tweet, tweet - there's been an earthquake (Toronto Star)

The Virtual World of Recruiting (HRZone.com)

Overstock.com Creates First Storeroom in SL (MNN)

My Virtual Summer Job (Wall Street Journal)

How Second Life Affects Real Life (Time)

Nothing can stop it - the blog!

more stories like this

Second Life Gets Its Virtual Auteur: Douglas Gayeton and Molotov Alva (Huffington Post)

Why Twitter Matters (BusinessWeek)

Overstock.com and This Second Marketing featured on REAL BIZ in SL

Overstock.com Grand Opening in Second Life

Second Life Marketing: Still Strong

How non-profits are using social networking to raise money and awareness

Why Marketers Love Small Social Networks

Investors Pour $184M into Virtual Worlds

McKinsey: ignore Second Life at your peril (Times UK)

Companies which do not embrace virtual worlds risk missing the next wave of the web's development, the consultancy said

Organic CEO Kingdon Leaves for Second Life (ADWEEK)

Second Life Economy Grows 15% from Q4 to Q1

'Molotov' to debut on TV and online (Hollywood Reporter)

Second Life Slowly Turning into a Record Store (WIRED.COM)

Apple stores to get virtual counterparts?

Microsoft MVPs gathering; Microsoft in Second Life and Microsoft NASCAR won't go (NetworkWorld)

Second Life Carbon Offset Store Features 4Offsets.com (TransWorld News)