Second Life or Get-​​A-​​Life?

Richard Maven of e-​​consultancy inter­views Catherine Smith, mar­keting director of Linden Lab, the creators of the popular virtual com­munity Second Life. The digital world has hit the head­lines recently because of the number of busi­nesses that have bought a presence in the world, including Sun, Adidas, Volvo, Wells Fargo, Text100 PR, and most recently, social media con­sultancy Crayon.

So how do you do it and why would you do such a thing?

What are the main things com­panies should consider before getting involved?

If you are not authentic and do not offer anything to the com­munity, you are likely to be ignored, at best. But those firms who commit to a long-​​term presence in Second Life have an oppor­tunity to interact with their com­munity in new and innov­ative ways.

We recom­mend that people join, learn and really feel things out before jumping in.

Is advergaming all about brand? How can advert­isers measure response?

It is all about the brand at this point. Second Life provides a way for brands to reach out and connect with their audience in new and dif­ferent ways.

Regardless of how you choose to measure this inter­ac­tion, it would ulti­mately be qual­it­ative over quantitative.

Is there a danger that users could be put off if Second Life becomes too commercial?

We equate more res­id­ents and com­panies coming in-​​world with a richer exper­i­ence for everyone. Of course, this will require bal­an­cing the concerns of early adopters and other niche demo­graphics, with that of the pop­u­la­tion as a whole.

Ultimately, the more people that choose to come in-​​world, the more oppor­tun­ities it will create for all res­id­ents. We think res­id­ents recog­nise this and will accom­modate an increasing variety of pres­ences in-​​world. At present there is such a wealth of activity that par­ti­cip­a­tion in any com­mer­cial aspect is com­pletely voluntary.

Personally, I’m not entirely sold on Second Life, though I am fas­cin­ated by the dis­cus­sion. If I want to play computer games, then I’ll play a computer game. With 1.2mn members, a massive 35% of whom signed up in the last month, it’s nowhere near the size of World of Warcraft (8mn) or even Guild Wars (2mn). However, the lack of elves, dwarven war­ham­mers and the like means that it’s more socially accept­able for grown-​​up mar­keting pro­fes­sionals to express an interest. I’d argue that this makes the level of coverage a little arti­fi­cial compared to its real-​​life impact.

As with most social media engage­ment, as Catherine says, the metrics of ROI are pretty messy. It “provides a way for brands to reach out and connect with their audience in new and dif­ferent ways” that can only be measured qual­it­at­ively. The trouble is that most busi­nesses can’t do everything. How will they be able to measure the advant­ages of a SL presence against other forms of activity? Also, having a building or an island in SL kind of requires one or more people to be there. Empty shops don’t, to me, suggest a company that’s “engaged”. So that’s three FTEs if you want a full-​​time presence… for results that you won’t be able to quantify for ages. Good luck getting that past the grumpy FD.

* I know the headline has nothing to do with the story. Sorry. But I wanted to use it anyway.

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