Business Communicators of Second Life®

Brands in Second Life Missing Out on Fundamental Element

Most of the big brand name sims in Second Life are empty or register little traffic, despite the wide media coverage of every press release announcing a new brand name Second Life presence.  Many events are less-than-well-attended.  Most of these brands are examining the potential and possibilities of Second Life for marketing, and for some, its operational benefits. 

So, it just begs the question: why are brands not using the most fundamental social structure available in Second Life?

A recent survey of 18 brands to recently jump into Second Life shows only one has created an identifiable public in-world Group as of a week ago.  That is worthy of nothing short of a “WOW.”

Groups are the most fundamental social structure in Second Life.  In fact, they largely define “who” an avatar is.  One of the first things people do while traveling around in Second Life is to use the handy right-click Profile maneuver to see when someone was ‘born’ and what groups they belong to.  That list of groups immediately conveys information about a person's interests, why they are in Second Life and they help establish a persona.  Without standard real world cues to rely on, avatars are defined and identified by the groups they belong to in Second Life. 

Groups are a short-hand to reputation in Second Life, They are the equivalent of the three-second first impression.    They are a big part of in-world identity.

More importantly for brands, it is also the “opt-in” mechanism in Second Life.  Just like an opt-in email list, people join groups to keep up on what’s going on with like-minded people.  They want to know when events are happening and people are gathering.  They can instant message an entire group when online and arrange “flash mobs.”  They shout out help to group members.  Group notices posted by the administrator of the group often wind up in real world email boxes when people are offline.  It is a bridge between real world and Second Life. 

Joining a group is one of the first things people do on entering Second Life, and one of the first things they ask about when they stumble upon something or some place of interest. In-world journalists and bloggers join groups to get the news.

Brands are roundly missing out on perhaps the single most vital engagement factor in Second Life.  They are missing the opportunity for Second Lifers to "identify" with them.  The fact so few have taken this simple step also underscores their need to strategically evaluate their Second Life presence.

Thompson NetG is the one exception to the brand name Group dearth.  They created a group, NetG Chat, which anyone can join (free).  While still light on members, the option is available.  A few companies have created groups for their employees, however they haven’t taken the step to create an opt-in group.  Virtual world developers, Electric Sheep has a public group that they use to disseminate information on client projects or event news; and Millions of Us has created temporary groups for specific events, mostly for day-of event communication.   

Understanding the need to connect directly with their fans, the band Duran Duran has an official fan club group with over 450 members.

A recent article by David Berkowitz on Search Insider tells marketers they need to step up to “virtual world optimization.”  David gives a few good tips on being searchable via the in-world Search feature – and even points to some “carbon world” search tools. Making sure you can be found in Second Life through search is good. Good when someone takes the effort to search; but  brands need to build a better connection than search.

Second Life is a virtual social world.  So far brands are missing out on a very basic human (and marketing) concept. If brands hope to get a life there, they might want to consider the ‘social’ part of “social world.”

Photo credit: jeremyvaught, bucket

November 2, 2006
 

Vodafone Preparing Second Life Presence

Mark Wallace at 3pointD is reporting that Rivers Run Red, a UK creative services company, is building out a Second Life Island for Vodafone.  Vodafone’s ad agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty recently opened their own presence is SL, and it seems Vodafone’s upcoming SL island launch is part of a marketing campaign BBH is spearheading.

Vodafone Group operates mobile telecommunication services throughout most of the world but its U.S. affiliate operates as Verizon Wireless.

The company sponsors global sporting and entertainment events, so it isn’t surprising that they are planning these types of events for their Second Life Island.   They are apparently also planning to bring “new ways” for Second Lifers to interact with each other inside the grid and with real life. Details are scarce, but they are beginning their Second Life buzz.

Canadian telecommunications company Telus opened a virtual store in Second Life back in August of this year, offering virtual mobile telephones with small applications that are mainly for “buzz appeal” rather than anything functional in-world or that bridges RL and SL.

Last April Vivox, a company that enables voice communication for online communities, began putting in virtual phone booths and group microphones (for up-to-five group chatting) in Second Life allowing residents to call RL phones from in-world.  To use the in-world phones requires a download of special software.  Vivox is currently promoting their Second Life presence with a “million minutes” give away.

Voice communication between the RL and SL isn’t new with the entrance of Vivox or presumably, Vodafone.  Skype is being used regularly for voice communication while in-world.

It isn’t clear what Vodafone has planned as yet.  While the standard text based communication in Second Life has some unique benefits, seamless voice communications will be a vital component for broad-based real-life business conferencing applications. We'll be tracking Vodafone's Second Life initiative.

Photo Credit:  Cailyn Miller


October 10, 2006

Sun Microsystems to Hold Press Conference in Second Life

Sun seems to be pushing the news dissemination envelope.  Next Tuesday Sun’s Chief Gaming Officer, Chris Melissinos and Chief Researcher, Jon Gage will hold an in-world press conference, officially opening their Second Life pavilion and discussing how Sun plans to work in Second Life.

Their PR agency, Bite PR seems to be spearheading the Second Life press event. 

This move shows a real understanding of modern media as both “channel” and “place.” 

And, if the press conference is open to the avatar public, that would also signal Sun’s understanding of who “the media” is today – everyone.

The Red Herring has a story here and includes another interesting move Sun is making related to financial disclosure regulations.

[Update 10-6-02] The press release has just come across at Yahoo, and access to the Sun Pavilion will be restricted prior to the event.  But to visit the Pavilion another time, it is located at: secondlife://Sun Pavilion/182/144/55.

 

October 5, 2006

A Second Life Cautionary Tale via Text 100

Second Life Insider blogger, Caliadris Pendragon, calls out Text 100 but in the process teaches a couple of really important lessons for PR and business people entering Second Life.  The big one – take time to learn the culture.

September 30,2009

Leo Burnett Second Life Creative Department to Launch

The land grab for agencies moving into Second Life is officially on.  Leo Burnett London announced today that they are opening The Idea Hub for its 1,600 global creative personnel to collaborate in Second Life.  This follows the announcement earlier this week that advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty is setting up shop.

While the two are using their virtual spaces for very different things, the one thing they have in common is both have the attitude of "we don't quite know what we're doing, but let's see what happens."  IMHO I think this is a splendid attitude and exactly what is needed!  I'm especially pleased to see Burnett using the space for creative endeavors.

Quoting from Brand Republic:

"The hub is then free to grow and develop into whatever. I don't know what it's going to become. We will judge commercial opportunities on their merit when they appear." --Jim Thornton, the executive creative director at Burnett

Apparently Burnett's "Music Artists in Residence" program will also be brought into the in-world space where staffers who are members of bands will have a virtual audience, as well.

Ad agency, Bartle Bogle Hegarty's early plans are to open virtual agency offices for client meetings and seminars. Read more about BBH at 3pointD.

Photo Credit:  kylerroth

Text 100 and PR in Second Life: A Long Way to Go

The thing that finally pushed me over the edge was the last line – “you'll find us on Text 100 Island.” 

That’s the last line of the recently released Text 100 “Machinima News Release” (Gary Goldhammer and I landed on the phrase over the weekend), about their presence in Second Life.

I respect this PR agency hugely for making the leap into Second Life.  They have taken the risk, put it out there for comment and discussion, and are the ones with the arrows in their backs (from people like me).

The “problem” I have with the Text 100 piece is point of view – narrow. Sadly, Text 100’s machinima simply encourages clients to do the same things differently instead of opening minds to the expanded expectations “our publics’ have in virtual spaces.   It echoes the hollow spaces of the web left by brands that (still) fail to connect with their publics in that “old” 2D virtual space.

So, our publics have gathered elsewhere and played with our brands without us – on their own websites, chat spaces, blogs, mashups, video cameras, social networks – and on into SL.

Second Life is an immersive environment – content is 360 degrees with height and width and depth and texture and emotions that are capable of reaching the very depths of our hearts and brains in ways no 2D “media” can. It is “simulation” not “duplication.”

Our brands cannot be an “island” where we create an “immersive environment.”  We need to BE the immersive environment.  To further the geologic analogy - the coral reef – where life teams in the nooks and crannies and the creatures that live there become the infrastructure.   From Wikipedia:  “where there is mild wave action, not so strong it tears the reef apart yet strong enough to stir the water and deliver sufficient food and oxygen.”

Web-3D challenges us to define PR – indeed our organizations - within this context.  Not within the context of doing the same things in a different way.

We must think of Second Life and other virtual spaces far more deeply.

Photo credit:  Phinn Boffin

IBM’s Second Life Press Briefing: Transforming Business Through Virtual Worlds

IBM’s vice president Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger, held a press meet-up in Second Life last week while in London – and in the process brought IBM’s “secret” Second Life island out of the shadows.

The purpose of the press meet-up was to discuss why IBM considers Second Life so important.  IBM has been researching and experimenting with virtual worlds to understand, among other things, the importance of visual imagery to convey information - and a vast range of other aspects of human interaction with visual and virtual spaces. IBM believes virtual worlds and gaming will have a huge impact on IT, business, society and our personal lives in the very near future.

According to Wladawsky-Berger, the cutting edge of "visualizations" is taking place in MMOGs (massively multiplyer online games) and video games. And IBM is committed to being right there with them for business applications.

The IBM meet-up in SL last week was certainly not a first for IBM.  IBM’s Hursley Park Lab has been blogging about Second Life and related projects over at eightbar for a while.

Depending on how closely you follow Second Life “gadgets” you may know that there is an in-world interface with Amazon.com's database, making it possible to search for and purchase books in-world.  There is also a very recently released in-world language translator for use with the Second Life chat feature.  Both of these have been contributed to Second Life by the research teams at IBM.

Read Dr. Wladawsky-Berger’s blog entry for some fascinating insight into what IBM has been up to and get his take on why Second Life and virtual worlds have IBM’s attention.

Read the article in the UK's Register about IBM's press meet-up as well as for a peak into IBM’s present and future in Second Life that came out of the press meeting.

While I'm on the subject, a couple more IBM notes:

Roo Reynolds, one of the contributors at eightbar (and Second Life IBM researcher) announced today he will be speaking at an upcoming conference in the UK, My So-Called Second Life, sponsored by the UK non-profit New Media Knowledge (If you are in the UK October 24th you might consider attending – the fee of  £50-80 is a steal).

Finally, read in the Telegraph about IBM’s Innovation Jam – an electronic brainstorming session open to all 335,000 IBM employees aimed at developing a list of ideas for moving the company forward, and to which IBM has committed $100 million to develop. The process generated 37,000 comments from employees.  The online brainstorm was informally combined with IBM's Virtual Universal Community and 3D Jam on the New Media Consortium Second Life campus.

Update:  Michel Leblanc has posted some snapshots.

Photo credits:  eightbar;
IBM Blog: Adventures in Gaming

Virtual Laguna Beach Prototype Available in Second Life

You probably already know that last week MTV officially launched its Virtual Laguna Beach.  But, The Electric Sheep Company has posted today that the prototype for VLB was built in Second Life – and is now open to the public there.  Check out the Second Life Virtual Laguna Beach prototype here: secondlife/laguna beach/43/215/23/.

I recommend the you also drop by MTV’s “sneak peak” beta site  and at least take a look at the promo video on the home page and click in on the VLB Central page (Events page wasn’t working for me).  MTV is showing this Tuesday’s (tomorrow’s) Winter Formal episode in VLB before it airs on TV, and inviting everyone to join in on the “first ever” VLB Winter Formal. 

They’ve done a nice “Visitor’s Guide” – which will give you an idea of the features. But, hey, go all the way and register!  I'll be checking it out.

Tracking this one, but my hunch is, if nothing else, it is going to be a very interesting experiment in "socializing" a tv show and may be beating one path through to the next generation of tv.

Wall Street Journal Reports on Fashion in Second Life

Raz Schionning, American Apparel's director of Web services, tells the WSJ that they have sold 4,000 virtual items since opening their Second Life store in late June 2006.  But, that is actually subtext to the fact that WSJ Marketplace (free) is featuring Second Life’s fashion scene in the first place.  Pretty legitimizing.

The story’s essence however, is the growing competitive fashion scene in Second Life – and the importance of Second Life media to driving sales.  Designers gain attention using advertising, websites and blogs – and Second Life style magazines are a key PR tool, as well.  The story cites the Second Man and Fashionista blogs which are now part of Second Style magazine as key media.  (If you haven’t yet checked out Second Style – wow seriously beautiful – you forget you are looking at virtual fashion.)   The Second Life newspapers such as The Herald and the Metaverse Messenger also frequently feature style-related stories, as does the excellent SLATENight Magazine.

Of course “word-of-wearing” is also just as important in-world as in RL.

But what should perk up the ears/eyes of anyone paying attention is the age of the “consumers” quoted in the story, the amount per month in real dollars they spend per month on virtual fashion and the buying motivations that peak through. 

Be sure to take a browse through the WSJ’s fashion slide show that accompanies the story.

Photo credit:  Dow Jones & Company Wall Street Journal Online

Fleishman-Hillard’s Next Great Thing Initiative Looking for Avatar Manager

YPulse , a GenY trend and news publication, posted a call the other day on behalf of Fleishman Hillard’s NGT initiative for a “manager of virtual world avatar.”  The job description includes managing the avatar, interacting with players, sending blast emails to members, and being able to “handle in-game requests with the interest of the client in mind.”

Tony Walsh over at Clickable Culture has an amusing response to this career call for an “advertar-puppeteer.”   

On a more serious note, if companies are going to explore virtual spaces, they need to “staff” them.  It is a criticism I’ve made of the W’s Aloft hotel property – there is no one there to interact with.

In fairness to FH, the tasks listed are exactly what educational institutions are doing in “staffing” their virtual spaces…someone to meet and greet, ask questions of, and provide information both in-world and out (via  in-world IM, or via SLMail).

Now, execution on FH's part is everything - and training their avatar managers is key. But if creating community is the new marketing/communications paradigm, then we are going to see more calls for avatar managers.  And we communicators are going to have to learn some new skills ourselves.

Photo Credit: © Roland Csuhaj

Media can be Magic

Media is so flat.  Newspapers, magazines, books.  Even the web we interact with is as flat as our monitors. TV and film - your screen might be big or HD, but it’s still flat. Audio – okay, not flat.  Audio fills our ears and our minds.

But what if we thought of media as magic?  More like this.

Only, magical media it is a whole lot closer than 50 years.

3-D is Rocking Your Business Communications World

The 2-D world of wikis, blogs, tagging and social networking are difficult to wrap our minds around and, in terms of our communications objectives they may seem rather – well, subtle (if not down-right obtuse). A lot of us are still trying to get a handle on many of the 2-D new media tools and are wrestling with how they fit into our communications initiatives.

Fortunately, innovation doesn’t wait for us.  The 3-D web is under very active development. So, how about a dose today of what’s coming in the delivery of 3-D content in our own real life?

Last February at the TED conference Jeff Han of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences demonstrated publicly for the first time his “interface free” touch-driven computer interface that will “change the way we interact with machines.” You simply need to watch this.

In April, Google released SketchUp and 3D Warehouse that allows us to create and then overlay a 3-D model onto Google Earth.  With the 3D Warehouse Network Link installed, when you are viewing Google Earth images you see little blue house icons all over the globe - those indicate where 3-D models are available. With a click you zoom down into a 3-D model of The White House, a giant glacier off the coast of Nova Scotia, Santa Claus’ house in Finland, the Notre Dame cafeteria in France. And of course it is all “consumer generated.”   No way to describe it in words – go see the (5 second) demo at Google Earth.

And, in July, Microsoft announced Photsynth – again you have to see it to appreciate it, but basically it finds similar images all over the web and stitches them together to create a 3-D model you can explore.  This Microsoft video demonstrates how Photosynth works with everyone’s web images of Saint Peter’s Basilica.

These 3-D “interfaces” are 5 years away  - but now is the time to start thinking and experimenting with 360-degree content.  Simply start adding 2-D multimedia to your content to begin "thinking 3-D" – audio, video, animation, podcasts, blogs, wikis, tagging -  they are all available now and assist us in thinking about the “total content experience” that is going to be a requirement for the 3-dimensional, immersive web.

Second Life is a great 3-D laboratory we can use now.  It’s readily accessible, it’s cost-effective, it’s a platform into which you can build 360-degree content.  But, it’s only one of the ways the web is moving to 3-D. 

Orientation to Second Life Info Island Tonight. What Business Communicators Can Learn From Librarians

Lori Bell (aka Loreli Junot) of the Second Life Library 2.0 is doing an orientation of Info Island tonight at 7 p.m.( SLT/PDT).  She has generously opened it to anyone who is interested.  Lori also indicated that she is planning others in the next weeks, so if you can’t make tonight’s orientation she will announce them in the events calendar and I’ll post them here, as well.  This is a great opportunity to learn about how the library is making information available in Second Life.

If you stop by this blog regularly, you might have picked up that I spend some considerable time in the educational areas of Second Life.  Partly because there are so many of them, but mostly because they have a lot to teach us business communicators.

What business communicators can learn from librarians:

• They go where the audiences are.
• They make information attractive.
• They experiment with new media forms.
• They curate existing information in varying and interesting ways based on the audience and timeliness.
• They integrate similar types of information from differing media.
• They create physical and virtual spaces for interacting with “content.”
• They encourage anyone and everyone to participate.
• If they don’t have the information at hand, they make it a mission to get it for you.
• They measure success in how much the information is used, not in how many people walk by the door.

Photo credits:  Joannamkay Flickr photostream.
Pathfinder Linden Flickr photostream

Second Life in the Media

Second Life has gotten tons of media coverage in recent weeks – and it’s not limited to just the gaming or tech pubs.  Much of what I find in the news media is fairly light and airy but there is other reporting going on that is much more enlightening.

Here are pointers to a few stories you might find interesting that report on Second Life from different angles.

Popular Science (September 2006)
Your Second Life is Ready
The reporter enters Second Life with guide Hamlet Au of New World Notes and tours several aspects of Second Life.

Open Source Radio: International Public Radio
Living in Game Space. (mp3, 24 min, aired March, 2006)
A broad-ranging interview with an educator from MIT, SL reporter Hamlet Au, and others, about SL sociology, real life versus virtual life, sex, education, architecture and more; with questions coming in from the listening audience.

Be sure to check out some of the reading material at the end of the accompanying blog post.

The Phoenix (August 2006)
Right Click to Learn
Second Life as a learning space and for educational collaboration and community building.

 

ClikZ Network
Marketing Opportunities Emerge in Online Gaming Venues (August, 2006)
Statistics and research about gaming for marketers.

Library of Congress Exhibit Now Open In Second Life Library 2.0

  The Library 2.0  has been working with the Library of Congress on a Declaration of Independence display that was officially announced and which opened yesterday on Info Island in Second Life.  The exhibit includes dioramas, streamed audio, text in the form of larger-than-life documents and SL notecards, information kiosks and even period furniture.  My favorite is the 12-part timeline, “America During the Age of Revolution.” 

The materials for the Second Life Library 2.0 display are on loan from the American Memory division of the Library of Congress, and highlight the Declaration of Independence.  It is a nicely executed build which links to and complements the Library of Congress’ American Memory website.  It appears that over the next few months Shadow Fugazi of Library 2.0 may be coordinating other LOC exhibits in the space.

This is worth a visit to see how the library is interfacing visitors to printed material.  SL is not particularly “print friendly,”  but the exhibit includes lots of audio alternatives. I listened to a reading of the Declaration of Independence while I walked around and looked at other aspects of the exhibit.   

Audio, in fact, is an extremely effective way to deliver content in SL.  While it is an immersive and visual environment, audio shouldn’t be limited to ambient sounds or background music.  Overall, audio is often overlooked as a content delivery method in our communications on the web (unless you are thinking podcasts), but in SL it is particularly attractive because SL is normally a fairly silent experience – except for the ole’ click of the virtual keyboard as we chat.  For example, during the Artists on the Green event at the New Media Consortium Campus a couple of weeks ago, they streamed the audio of a panel discussion so visitors could listen to the panel while browsing through the artwork throughout the island.

The Library of  Congress exhibit will be on display at Library 2.0 through the end of September.  It is located in Parvenu Towers on Info Island at:  Info Island 214/17/39.

Financial Companies Urged to Reallocate Marketing Funds to Virtual Worlds

A report released in July by the global consulting and research firm, TowerGroup urges financial institutions to consider reallocating funds from existing marketing, advertising and R&D budgets to  put themselves on the forefront of the “emerging MMORPH/VSW market.” MMORPG (pronounced More Pig) stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games; VSW is the acronym for “Virtual Social Worlds.”  Second Life falls into the VSW category, but many also consider it a MMORPG.  But I split hairs.

The point is TowerGroup analyst Rodney Nelsestuen reports there is opportunity – to the tune of $2.5 billion in 2006 in this arena.  He predicts that by 2010 the market will grow to 40 million people spending $9 billion annually.   

In examining the opportunities for financial institutions, TowerGroup notes these environments have “characteristics of complete economic and social systems, replete with virtual currencies.”

Nelsestuen admonishes the industry saying that most financial services institutions “have either ignored these thriving marketplaces, or have relegated marketing efforts to banner advertising or online links."

The full report is available to TowerGroup clients only, but Insurance Networking News has a short article about the report here.

Virtual World to Accompany Real MTV Show

MTV is at it again – a new way to experience television this time.  They are in the “alpha” phase of a project called Virtual Laguna Beach – a virtual world for the fans of the reality TV show, Laguna Beach. 

The news was spreading yesterday, but this afternoon, Chris Carella, who has been working on the project at Electric Sheep Company, posted fun insights and interesting facts (including this photo) about the project. He indicates there is a “group of companies” building the world, including his own.

This isn’t to be overlooked as a marketing gimmick or a way to extend advertising opportunities.  This just might be what TV networks have been looking for in moving to an “interactive TV” model. Disruptive is just one (buzz) word that comes to my mind.

The virtual space, like the world of Second Life, will be an evolving.  MTV plans to program events within VLB to complement the show, and it sounds like they’ll easily be drawing in the 173,000+ MySpace friends of the show.  This project is simply a way to extend the “traditional” social network around a shared interest into a fuller shared experience.

And, MTV plans to give them plenty of shared experiences – from a theater in which to watch the TV show with friends (around the clock, of course), to places to gather for dates that mimic the real places in the show.   Custom avatars, shared shopping, music and videos as well as organized and “resident”-initiated events - all built around the show – will no doubt keep that MTV feel going in-world.  Residents are rewarded for “Laguna-style talents such as socializing, fashion, and shopping,” according to Chris.

Chris says its “next generation TV.” And we should know better than to doubt MTV. 

Virtual Laguna Beach is being built inside the teen-oriented There.com (not Second Life).

Read more details here.

PR Firm Text 100 Opens Second Life Office

Text 100, an international Public Relations firm, is opening a virtual office in Second Life.  They expect it to be open to the public on August 21. 

They hope to be inspiring clients to use their virtual space for client meetings, press conferences, product feedback or workshops.  Georg Kolb of Text 100 writes about their thoughts in this blog post.

Electric Sheep, the developers of the Text 100 Second Life office, notes in their blog that Text 100 realized they needed to be a part of the world they would be advising clients about.  Kudos!

Image from Electric Sheep.