Business Communicators of Second Life®

Communitelligence Executing Social Media Conference

I'm heading out to Atlanta today to speak at the Fall Executing Social Media conference.  Paull Young of Converseon and I will be taking attendees of our session on a bit of a Second Life corporate expedition.  I'm looking forward to getting new insights on Converseon's Second Chance Trees initiative which tied planting of RL trees with the purchase of virtual trees.  The initiative was recognized as one of the 50 finalists in the American Express Members Project.

While I get the opportunity to speak quite often, I don't get to focus solely on Second Life strategies in presentations as often as I'd like, so this will be a fun one for me.  I hope to be meeting some of you there and hear your perspectives face-to-face.

As the environment - and the conversations - surrounding SL have been changing this year, I've been thinking and re-thinking why Second Life galvanizes such heated debate for marketers, business communicators and business innovators.  It is because Second Life matters - regardless of which side of the debate you are on - it matters in some systemic and mysterious ways.  It signifies or embodies something important, something fundamental.  If it didn't there wouldn't be so much passion surrounding it from either side.  I'll be writing more about this.

In the meantime, Gwyneth Llewelyn  eloquently  (as usual!)  writes about why Second Life stands apart, and provides some salient signals.  But her most important point - one that speaks to that mysterious, systemic magic (and one that is most troublesome for branders) - is made as she contrasts other virtual worlds/spaces with SL:

"...their vision is closed — their ideal metaverse is one that has been thought out in advance and rolled out for their users, providing them the kind of experience that they think is best for you.

"LL’s still clueless about what makes Second Life special. They’re not writing things on stone. In fact, they’re mostly hacking away at things, and in spite of being very stubborn on several areas, it’s not less true that they’ve allowed people — their residents — to change completely the way Second Life is used for.

"...In fact, while the technology of several other competitors might look awesome to us poor stressed-out SL residents with our insane lag and low frame rates, the difference is really that we’re not talking about technology at all. We’re talking about what a “metaverse” is for us — beyond technology."

This may be way too subtle if you are focused on looking for the tactic-magic - but this is the essence of why all social media is changing the way we do business.  I boil it down in the title of different presentation I've been invited to give many times this year:  "It's Sociology, Not Technology."

Gwen's post is long but well worth the read if you are the least bit interested in SL. Print it out and take it with you on the commute.  Put it on your blogosphere "to read" list.  It is a link I'll be recommending in my upcoming presentation.

November 13, 2007

   

Virtual World 2007 Conference: Learnings

The theme of the recent Virtual Worlds 2007 Conference in NYC was “The Future of Media and Marketing.” 

I’ve been musing and then musing some more about the conference, wondering what jaw-dropping insights I could share.  I see that others did the same.

I purposely did not blog the conference, hoping to absorb it all and then distill it into some kind of virtual world Wisdom Soup.  Well, that and the fact the wireless connection there couldn’t sustain all the connected people a conference like this tends to draw.  I resorted to Twittering instead which proved to be a fun, humorous and an often more insightful back channel to the conference.

What became apparent though, ten minutes into the affair, was that there were two quite distinct groups there – 1) the virtual world platform owners / developers;  and 2) the content owners (marketers / educators).

Urizenus Sklar at the Second Life Herald calls them 1) "the philosophers;” and 2) "the marketing guys wringing their hands about ROI and looking for quick answers.”   Unfortunately in his estimation one group “gets it” and the other doesn’t. 

Actually, VW2007 was a classic paring of two populations who simply do not speak the same language.  At times, the frustration was quite palatable – and even visuals and sign language didn’t help any. 

That said, here are my personal take-aways and commentary about VW 2007:

VW developers and owners currently dominate the public conversation surrounding virtual worlds. 
I have huge respect and liking for these talented and visionary people.  However, more voices need to be brought into the conversation to broaden the perspective for every stakeholder, current and future.   Translators will emerge and both groups will learn what is needed from the other. VW developers have a vital view, but it isn’t the only vantage point on the landscape.   Audience members, in fact, provided some of the most insightful questions and challenging perspectives.

Marketers are hungry for metrics and demo/psychographics.
A concrete manifestation of that was the nearly 150 requests I received for a copy of the Real Life Brands in Second Life research study and the First Opinions Panel demographic survey I presented in my five-minute (well, maybe 8 minute) panel talk.  Contrary to popular wisdom, it is possible to apply success measurements to a vw initiative.  It doesn’t have to be just about “marketing R&D.”  While it is true that we do not yet have sophisticated metric tools specific to virtual worlds, we do have very sophisticated metrics for our other marketing initiatives.  By integrating VW initiatives with some more mature metric systems marketers can at least partially satisfy this real business need until vw metrics mature.

There is some real marketing, sociological and psychographic research being done in virtual worlds – and it is not well known or publicized.  Market Truths and Reperes are just two companies that can provide marketers with the intelligence and credible research marketers need pre- or post-vw initiative. 

Marketers expectations of their VW developers are too high.
Marketers expect their VW developers to have all the marketing answers.  They don’t.  They can’t.  Marketers need a team approach and a real commitment (not necessarily monetary) for a truly successful vw initiative.  Integration is key. Social media marketing concepts are key.  My suggestion for a success team:

• Marketing and PR staff / agency
• Social Media specialist / consultant
• Virtual World Developer
• Virtual World and Real World market researchers (maybe)
• Platform Owner (perhaps)
• IT Group (if appropriate)
• RW & VW Customer

Intellectual Property Rights Conflict Lost in Translation
This was an area in which the two populations at VW 2007 were particularly linguistically mismatched. I’m the first one to agree that marketers have spent millions and millions so that consumers will make a brand part of their identity, and therefore it is not surprising that when avatars are re-creating themselves in virtual spaces they naturally want to integrate the brands they identify with.  It is an absolute fantasy for any marketer.

The prevailing advice from several panel members was to allow or even encourage customers to “play with” the brand, be the brand, mashup the brand or take some kind of personal virtual ownership of the brand. 

The problem for the marketer is current trademark and copyright laws aren’t in line with this.  If a brand allows unlicensed, unstructured and free use, it will in practice be putting the brand/marks into the public domain and the brand owner may lose its right to claim it as a valuable IP.  A real big, real world issue for business.  Not a simple conundrum.

Trademark and copyright laws will need to be revised to address the collaborative digital mind.  In the meantime, marketers need to employ smart strategies that protect both the identity with the brand - and the brand identity.

Virtual worlds have a future.
Even as they are evolving, the enthusiasm for and potential of virtual worlds are driving factors.  A path has been set for their growth and eventual entry into mainstream use. Some panelists predicted five years; some said ten. How far that is away and how we define “mainstream” is to be seen.  We still have millions unconnected to The Network, much less the Metaverse.

But if they follow the evolution of everything else - and there is no indication they are any different - virtual worlds will not progress linearly.  The momentum behind them is undeniable, however, for the Future of Media and Marketing - and a whole lot of other things.

April 8, 2007

Photo credit:  Dedric Mauriac, Snapzilla

Some Real World Event Notes

Thought I would share a couple of real life "program notes" I'm participating in for those that might be interested.

The January issue of Optimize Magazine (CMP United Business Media) will include a feature article I wrote about the potential of Second Life and virtual worlds for business.  It will be on the web as of January 1. I'll post a link.

On January 10th I will be speaking at the San Diego, CA PRSA chapter on social media and media trends for 2007.  Of course virtual worlds will be mentioned!  Please come if you happen to be in the area!

I will be co-presenting with Kami Huyse at Ragan's New Communications Forum 2007 in a session on March 8, titled "Second Life, Second Chance."  We'll be looking at the culture and discussing how marketers can be effective in virtual worlds. If you are attending, please stop by and say hello - It would be great to meet you!

This Friday I will be interviewed in world by students from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalsim who are creating a televison show on Second Life. One pre-production question:  "does your avatar's mouth move?"  A peak into the challenges of crossing virtual world with visual medium. 

It reminds me of this great (personal favorite) and award-winning machinima.

December 6, 2006