Does Second Life Make Real Life Obsolete?

My favorite session at the SIIA Content Forum this week was the Second Life discussion with Russell Miyaki (TMP Worldwide) and Valerie Williamson (Electric Sheep Company) moderated by Patrice Curtis of Curtis Research.

Patrice provided the basics: SL contains about 10,000 square miles of virtual space, 6003 islands, and more than 5.6M residents (and some lawyers!). It has its own currency (Linden Dollars) and a fluctuating exchange rate determined by the market.

While most people find the idea of Second Life interesting, many wonder if it benefits a business to have a Second Life presence.

Russell felt that it did. His company specializes in recruitment in the real world and has extended their reach into Second Life.

On their island in Second Life, TMP constructs interactive buildings for their clients, organizes, and executes recruiting events.

We explored the T-Mobile building where a user could not only meet a recruiter, have a private conversation, and “hand” someone their resume, but they could also sky dive off the roof!

Valerie’s company, Electric Sheep, is the largest creator of virtual world content.

Content in SL is everything - literally. Avatars, clothes, buildings, cars, and every object, is content. Content is also information in the more traditional sense.

Valerie’s avatar showed us Nissan’s flying cars, Showtime’s island for The “L” Word, universities, and interesting applications of real world content (XML files) within the virtual world.

While no one offered an ROI on creating a Second Life presence, benefits were visible around community and collaboration.

There were many visitors on Showtime’s island, The “L” Word, creating parties and props and interacting with Showtime content and personalities.

Those visitors had jumped into an environment created around a Showtime brand and then enhanced it based on their own preferences with the collaboration of their new found friends.

Instead of a blog, a chat, or a game on a website, their participation was more intense and immersive (and I’d bet more “sticky”).

Does Second Life make real life marketing obsolete?

Hardly, it’s one more place you can build a community, host a conversation, and interact with your customers.

Comments

[Scott McArthur]

This is interesting and the notion of using Second Life as a business simulation/tool is well worth consideration. I have run simulation events for leadership and management groups and they can provide a stress free environment in which people can learn at pace. The likes of Second Life could take this to a deeper level.

[ann michael]

Hello Scott!

One thing I thought was interesting was Valerie mentioning how entertainment often "paves the way" for other businesses. She recalled how years ago it was the entertainment companies that first asked people to visit them at their URL.

I kept thinking about a 2nd Life classroom. Now that could make K-12 (and beyond) learning a lot more "sticky"!

I've never ventured in to Second Life, but I'm getting more and more tempted!

Thanks for stopping by!
Ann

[Patrice Curtis]

Hi Ann,

It was great to meet you at the conference! I think schools are going to get incredible use out of SL. I saw an article just yesterday that talks about kids getting their education online. I can see this whole effort moving into a virtual universe environment, and someday kids benefitting from a customized learning experience.

[ann michael]

Patrice -

What a fascinating article. I've often thought that US schools are still trying to train kids for the industrial age and need a bit of modernization. I'd love to see a mix of in school, online, and SL training!

Nice to "see" you again!
Ann