Second Life Is a Social Network: Please Act Accordingly

The media hype surrounding Second Life has mostly focused on a 3D world full of flying avatars, and the virtual economy that has made at least one person a very real millionaire. What’s been lost in all of the hype is that, above all else, Second Life is a classic social network.

All of the elements that make social networking an engaging and effective way to connect with your customers on the 2D web are present in abundance in Second Life. In addition to providing the basic functionality that most social web applications offer, Second Life adds an immersive environment and tools for real-time collaboration — the result is a compelling combination of features that clearly represents the next phase in evolution of the social web.

If your company or client is planning on entering Second Life it’s important to keep the social element in mind throughout the development process. All too many companies have entered the virtual world by creating static environments that are essentially 3D brochure-ware. Projects of this sort are doomed and quickly become ghost towns.

If you’re already in Second Life and you’re looking for a way to bring life back to a project that has stagnated, think social. Find a thriving community in-world and connect with them in some meaningful and ongoing way.

If you’re the sort who understands the importance of social media and actively uses social web applications to market online, but have no intention of going into Second Life — you may want to reconsider your decision. If you believe in the power of the social web then it’s a mistake to ignore Second Life. Virtual worlds may represent a very small sub-set of Internet users today, but they’re growing rapidly. Now is the time to dive in and figure out how virtual worlds work and what the true potential is.

Whatever you do in Second Life, or any other virtual world for that matter, it’s important to remember that there’s a real person behind every avatar. While avatar-based marketing may be all the rage, virtual worlds are still about using technology to connect with real humans. Second Life users understand this intuitively, and companies wishing to do business in virtual worlds should understand this as well.

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