Get a Second Life!
By Andrew Grant-Adamson • May 31st, 2007 • Category: Internet, JournalismCan someone tell me the commercial, or even, potentially commercial value of MSM setting up in Second Life? Back in October last year Reuters opened a Second Life bureau staffed by reporter Adam Pasick.
Now, Journalism.co.uk reports, the Telegraph has moved in to build a recreation of the garden it sponsored at the Chelsea Flower Show. And Sky News has built a version of its newsroom there. The BBC is to broadcast the Money Programme in Second Life.
It can’t be cheap to set up like this in Second Life with its six million registered residents, mostly absentee virtual home owners. And how many of these people are British? How many of those will be driven to do something which will earn the real world sponsors money, like buying the paper, taking out a Sky subscription or just seeing the paid-for ads on a website.
The whole thing looks like one of those "What about Second Life? We should so something there," ideas. Perhaps editors just want boast to their contemporaries: "I am bigger than you in Second Life."
Maybe I am missing something.
Andrew Grant-Adamson is Andrew Grant-Adamson is a journalist who now teaches a new generation of writers, subs and editors at the University of Westminster.
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I don’t think there is much commercial success in second life for the MSM. I do see a benefit from participating in that community though. Getting in there and trying the stuff is important regardless of whether it makes any money or not.
Gigaom.com recently posted two pieces on research into commercial/marketing value for companies in Second Life: neither were very uplifting. I think Reuters’ presence there makes good sense because we’ve seen several instances of companies starting up in the virtual world and then being acquired by real life companies or attracting real life venture capital. It’s also an interesting business scenario for Reuters to report from, important for parts of its audience.
A lot of the other MSM activity in Second Life seems an utter waste though, or only aimed at attracting real life PR: like the Swedish newspaper who bought and island there and put up a mailbox so their readers could drop them suggestions of how they could improve the paper. Like, why did they have to go to Second Life do do that, why not just put a letter in the real life post, or send an email. Also, by not having any of the newspaper folks present there, and by not bulding anything there that could be used for something, they’re not going to learn a whole lot from the experience and will gain zero understanding of the virtual society. So some of these Secon Life launches just beggars belief, but I think a lot of MSM is flocking there because they anticipate that that’s where more and more interesting things will happen, or just because they think they should.
The most recent research I saw on on nationalities in second Life (from http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/organgrinder/2007/05/germans_rule_second_life.html ):
It transpires, says a report from web analytics company ComScore, that 61% of the active residents of Second Life are in fact European.
Germans are the biggest fans accounting for just over 16% of total residents, France second with 8% and the UK with 6%.
but agrees with Jeff’s disappointment in the content. Having kept an eye on this kind of thing for a while I would say there is more cause to be optimistic. Look at how far we have come in such a short space of time. Speaking of Mr Adamson. He asks a very pertinent question about the commercial value to the MSM of being involved in second life. Personally I think they should be in for no other reason than they are participating in a community. It’s valuable experience in learning how to participate rather than profit. Of course, if Adam Boulton’s Avatar
Get a second life or get a life.
Andrew, I agree with you on this,Why go to the effort of setting up in the virtual world when you can surely invest the time more wisely in the real one.
Apparently Sky News had virtual reporters covering the Hay on Wye book festival on Sunday.
I think this game is one of the best pc games I have playd so far. It is because of the smooth graphics. But unfortunaly nothing beats Assassins Creed 2 on playstation, so I am returning to the now ^^ In some days my brother will borrow me this game once more, so maybe I will return to my pc then