Second Life Hype vs. Reality

You can't pick up a business publication or hang out with people who are enthusiastic about new ways of marketing without hearing about the Second Life virtual world/metaverse. I have written about it extensively here. I am very bullish on using Second Life as a platform for event marketing, virtual simulations and feedback, as are others in the marketing community.

Who can blame us? Although it's been around since 2003, the hype around Second Life has picked up dramatically in the last several months. It appears to be just off its all-time high. However, like any "mania" there is a bit of a gap between the hype and the truth. It's important to spell out what Second Life is and isn't - at least today.

Let's first take a look at the hype. Second Life right now is clocking an average of 175 blog mentions per day, according to Technorati. This peaked in early May around the time the BusinessWeek cover story came out on virtual worlds. If you take a look at the charts below you will also note that the hype around YouTube is outstripping that of Second Life on blogs by a factor of nearly 12 to one. Comparative data from Alexaholic also brings this out. (Note there could be some false positives here since "second life" is a common phrase and part of a TV show name.)

Also, some people incorrectly believe that Second Life has millions of users. It doesn't - yet. According to SL Population Statistics, the total metaverse population has climbed to over 400,000 residents. Yes, it's growing rapidly, but not as much as people may perceive. And when you dig into the data further, you learn more about your target.

First, Second Life's growth is not primarily being driven by all of the hype. Sure, it helps. Google Trends shows a spike in searches in the spring when the BusinessWeek cover story came out and the hype really took off. However, according to Catherine Omega, Second Life may be seeing its greatest boost from users who live outside the US. This is because in the spring Second Life creator Linden Lab removed the need to have a credit card to join. She also points out that SL is hiring in Asia with the intent to launch in Japan and Korea.

Next, Second Life has many people who try the service, but may not subscribe or return with any regularity. As Catherine notes, and the data shows, the growth concurrent logins are steady, not growing. The charts below show more. The first is overall population, the second is concurrent logins.

Unlike say YouTube or Wikipedia, browsing Second Life requires a time investment. You need to install an application on your computer, which some are naturally skittish about. Second, you have to want to learn the world and explore it. YouTube and other online communities, on the other hand, are more appropriate for those who like light fare and want to wind their way in and then out to other activities on the Web and then return. So, to me this means the engaged Second Life citizen is more technically adept than many of us.

Finally to wrap up, Second Life without a doubt is exciting and it is growing fast. It's a community that marketers definitely should get involved with since its ascension will continue. However, it is not growing nearly as fast as many perceive or as rapidly other communities that encourage participation. I am a little concerned about the concurrent login data. It points that Second Life engagement may not be as high as we think and there's a bit of a gap between hype vs. reality.

Take all of this into consideration when launching programs in the metaverse. Know as much as you can about who uses Second Life, what they want to accomplish within the virtual world and how you can help them do just that.

So experiment, yes, but do your homework.

Tags: secondlife, metaverse, statistics, lindenlabs