World Bank Presents Global Doing Business Report in Second Life

The World Bank presented their fifth annual global Doing Business report in Second Life yesterday.  It was a notable effort to expand knowledge and understanding about the work of the World Bank to end poverty across the globe. Case in point as to the need for that very effort:  Nobody Fugazi and Canuckflack (two very tuned-in people) wonder how the clients of the World Bank "many of them living in remote corners of the internet" were supposed to sign on to hear the presentation. The World Bank customers were not the intended audience - in fact, it was the exact opposite.  It was intended to inform those who know little about the role of the World Bank. The role of the World Bank is to finance states (countries), not individuals or companies - but to my point, it is a widespread misconception that developing countries are "unconnected."  Connectivity is in fact a driving force toward their overall economic development. 

The event was extremely well attended (gratifying to see!) and the presentation summarizing the 2008 report by Dahlia Khalifa, senior communications officer for the Doing Business project of the World Bank, was chocked full of the high-caliber information you would expect to come from such an institution.  Most unfortunately the session was also full of audio technical snafus and avoidable SL event-planning mistakes - but I for one found the session thoroughly engrossing and it upped my global economic market perspective quotient several notches. I am delighted to see the World Bank living up to their goal of innovation.  And Second Life can indeed be a most suitable communication platform - if sometimes tricky.

To learn more about Doing Business 2008, to review market data or to view a variety of videos on regional economies and reforms visit the Doing Business website:  http://www.doingbusiness.org/  For more information on market approaches to development and toward ending world poverty, check out the World Bank blogs:  http://psdblog.worldbank.org/.

On a related note, The World Bank is not only employing social media to distribute information on global ecomonies, but it is watching the space for its implications toward ending poverty, growing businesses, and providing peer-to-peer support structures.  They note in a recent blog post for example, a favorite site I reference in my social media "It's Sociology, Not Technlogy"© presentations, the peer-to-peer lending site Prosper.

Social media - and you thought it was just a new-fangled marketing or PR tactic.  Go figure.

October 27, 2007

Comments

[Colin McKay]

Hi.

It's great to hear that the event was well-attended.

If you look at my post, you'll note that I did identify the WB's clients as governments.

I agree that connectivity is essential for long-term economic development, but SL is an esoteric experiment for most of the world's population.

For most people, SL doesn't work more than a few miles from a fibre pipe. I think my point still stands: most of the WB's client governments do not have the capacity to participate in SL.

Still, it is encouraging that the WB is trying out social media and other forms of communication.

[Linda/Znetlady]

Hi, Colin

Thanks so much for stopping by and setting down a few thoughts here. I hear you about the connectivity issues and SL as niche - and I agree.

In this case, though the intended audience was not the World Bank's customers - it was us in SL. I think the WB's intention was to connect with people already in SL; to make a statement about their dedication to innovation; as well as about the implications of the pervasive growth in the use of social networks of all types. The importance of niche communities, etc.

An organization such as the World Bank has multiple audiences - well beyond their immediate customer base. In my opinion this wasn't about reaching a mass audience, or their existing customers - and that connecing with the niche nature of SL was a message in itself.

[Thijs Bosma]

good to see that Second Life proves to be valuable for these kind of purposes as well

[Nobody Fugazi]

Umm. I live in a developing country. I often work with issues related to the digital divide. There is less than 20% global internet penetration.

And that less than 20% does not mean 'broadband', either.

I think you're trying to defend the indefensible.

[Linda/Znetlady]

Hey, Nobody.

To your comment, my point is NOT that individuals in those countries are connected. We have a loooong way to go on that, and I've posted about that here before. In terms of connectivity, I was referring to the World Bank clients - the governments - not the penetration within the populations.

You are absolutely correct - the general Internet penetration is far, far too limited in your country, in my country and everywhere else.

My point IS, however, the World Bank wasn't trying to reach individual people in developing countries - they were trying to reach a very niche audience: those that are connected and that are in SL (that would be you!).

This was an educational and a public relations effort - not a client-facing effort nor even close to a mass audience effort. Organizations have multiple audiences and it isn't always about reaching their immediate customer.