Actually, I don’t care about chickens or understand them. Or anything to do with whatever it is you do with them in Second Life. I got fed up of SL games after wearing a Tiny Empires HUD for months..
My interest lies in how quickly SL residents will turn against a business through social media. And not just a business – individuals, companies, the Lab themselves.. social media has changed the way Second Life is used.
For a long time, Wednesday afternoons on Second Life just wouldn’t be. Linden Lab designated a 4-6 hour (usually a lot longer) period when they took the grid down to do “essential maintenance”. During this time, a group of us would all log into MSN Messenger and enter into a group chat to have laughs, gossip and basically keep in touch while the grid is down.
It was always a rare time when pretty much everyone in the circle of friends would be around, and it summed up the SL spirit nicely. A bunch of friends gathering together to have fun, exchanging news, and talking about all sorts of random things.
And the trend continued as Second Life got bigger. Only it’s no longer just an MSN conversation anymore. Now, everyone and their puppy has a blog in which to air their thoughts and feelings. The grid has gotten smaller as people have accounts on Plurk and Twitter – let your friends (and a bunch of other strangers) know what you’re thinking about in less than 140 characters!
People connect through their Facebook profiles, and chat to each other on Skype. The way we interact as residents is changing, and we’re using a dozen different social media websites to do it.
Many residents have multiple social media methods of contact too – a blogger will generally have a Flickr account to publish their snapshots to. But they want to chat to all these people commenting, so they join Plurk. Plurk leads them to venture into Twitter and Facebook, which also have active SL communities using them.
We keep in contact through various forums across the internet, discussing ideas and topics, and making yet more friends. We combine all we have to share in our blogs together in several feeds.
We’ve outgrown the grid – sure, that Second Life is the glue that holds everyone together. It’s the common denominator that we all share. But we no longer need Second Life in order to communicate with one another, or to meet new people.
As a community, I think we have become bigger than the grid.
Lizzie Lexington on August 4, 2009
YOU FOOLED ME, I thought this was another chicken drama, hahaha. Web 2.0 and social media – such a hot topic in my industry. Facebook isn’t just for chatting anymore. I know of people who actually use to maintain business contacts and search for customers. Web 2.0 may change the world as we know it.
Emerald Wynn on August 4, 2009
Dude, you suck. I totally wanted this post to be about chickens.
*sics Pradella on you*
I only spent a couple of hours online this morning. I spent the rest of the day out pounding the real pavement trying to find a real job.
It’s sweet relief to be home now, cocktail in hand, ready to relax and log on and count my chicken eggs. Oh, and talk to my SL friends. I love my Second Life friends. However, I do feel sort of blessed in that I don’t feel the need to watch their every move or read their every tweet/Plurk/FB update, etc., all day long. A conversation once or twice a day suffices for me.
As far as a blog goes, crap I hope I don’t fall in the puppy category. I do think it’s cool that Second Life inspires so many people to share their thoughts and experiences in pictures and writing. At the moment my real life is not inspirational enough to evoke such a literary or visual reaction.
OMG as usual this comment is all over the place.
*runs away*
Dolly Voom on August 4, 2009
I thought i clicked over here to say nuuuu more chicken yap…what a pleasant surprise to find a very well-written, well-thought out description detaling the evolution of our seconds lives…great job Prad!
Isabeal Jupiter on August 4, 2009
I absolutely agree with you. I don’t understand the chicken thing either.
It’s interesting that many people in my industry consider SL to be the ultimate in web 2.0, but your post makes it clear that there is much missing.
Stephen Venkman on August 5, 2009
Excellent take on how things have evolved over the last few years. There was no facebook, plurk, or twitter when I joined sl. Amazing how quickly all this technology booms forth from one thing or another.
Zippora Zabelin on August 5, 2009
I absolutely agree with your last lines, but disagree that it has changed in the past years. I’ve known the Wednesday evenings too. And I certainly wasn’t the only one in those days who’s made flickr, gmail, and twitter accounts within weeks after joining SL (the blog was a few months later indeed).
I do see a change of attitude on all these platforms though: from having fun together to making Art and doing Business and all the drama corresponding with these Very Important Activities.
Maryna Wind on August 26, 2009
Web 2.0 is past, Web 3.0 is here…
It is absolutely true that the way we communicate with each other is changing. But…
From all we have for and around SL, how many of them do we really need?
Don’t we loose quality of communication in its quantity (channels, connections, groups)?
Do we really need to be connected to all those people?
How much time do we spend maintaining those connections?
And the most important question…
Who does really profit from these interactions?