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.

(Read more of Second Life Is a Social Network: Please Act Accordingly)

In the course of some work I’ve been doing on another project, I’ve noticed three things about authors and their websites: first, a lot of authors still don’t have websites; second, some authors think that having a page on their current publisher’s site is sufficient; and, many authors who have websites don’t take them seriously.

Let’s take these in order.

(Read more of Three Mistakes Authors Make on the Web)

The Oxford Media Works team spent last week at BookExpo America 2006 — an eye-opening experience for more than one reason. We’ve heard rumors that approximately 25,000 people attended BEA, and if you spent any time at all trying to fight your way through crowds in the exhibition hall, you’d probably say that number is low.

There were two aspects of the conference that created a big impression on us. First, he sheer number of books being pitched to book buyers (as opposed to consumers), reviewers, and anyone who slows their pace or catches someone’s eye. Second, the rather last-century relationship the publishing industry has with new media, including, oddly, the Internet.

(Read more of Don’t Fear New Media)

If you’re like me you’ve been hearing about Convergence for so long that you’ve become understandably jaded. The dream of a convergent world with multiplying media options has been floated by all manner of visionaries and hucksters for over two decades. Not so long ago the prospect of convergence seemed a lot like flying automobiles. A classic futurist scenario that will probably never come to pass.

Remember when we were promised a world with 500 channels? If that future was so great how come they didn’t anticipate TiVo or YouTube? The vision of seemingly unlimited television programming was an extension of the old media world view - one where consumers watch passively at a pre-appointed times and wait to be told what to purchase. That world is about to become extinct. You can no longer treat your audience like lab mice.

Media has always been about engaging and communicating with your audience. The difference now is that your audience has more options than ever before. And tomorrow they’ll have even more options. Unless you proactively use new media to engage your audience you’ll lose them - permanently.

(Read more of Business As Usual Is No Longer On The Menu)