[Publib] Re: Second Life Hype vs. Reality

[Carol Bean]

I looked at it several months ago, and got a reality check.  I just 
checked the site again (http://secondlife.com/whatis/economy_stats.php): 
Residents Logged-In During:
Last 7 Days:  458,592
Last 14 Days: 637,010
Last 30 Days: 1,031,293
Last 60 Days: 1,682,527

Total avatars: 8,379,228

By comparison, MySpace has (I haven't checked lately) some 150 million 
people in it?  Even if that's 150 million avatars, or profiles, it still 
puts Second Life into some perspective, since 8 million are obviously 
not using Second Life regularly.  Think of the total number of Internet 
users in the U.S. (although I believe Second Life use is higher in 
Europe).  This is such a tiny fraction of the people online, I gotta 
wonder if the "hype" we are constantly hearing is nothing more than a 
viral marketing effort.

Carol Bean
beanworks - at - gmail
beanworks.wordpress.com


> Message: 13
> Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 11:50:01 -0400
> From: "Amanda Henning" <ahenning at marysvillelib.org>
> Subject: RE: [Publib] Second Life Hype vs. Reality
> To: <jgehner at hhptf.org>, <Publib at webjunction.org>
> Message-ID: <005601c7cf9c$a08c5e30$7611a8c0 at MPLYSV23H01>
> Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"
>
> I've heard about secondlife in multiple SLIS classes and I've seen tons
> about it at conferences, but I have yet to:
>
> a.  see a single patron actually on it
> b.  have a second life-related question at the library
> c.  talk to a teen who actually has an account (many of my teens haven't
> even heard of it!)
>
> I know that librarians are really excited about this service, but it just
> doesn't seem particularly popular with the general public.  I get myspace
> questions almost every single day, and we all get bombarded with email
> questions..  I think if secondlife was as popular as other librarians would
> lead us to believe, there would be more questions about it.
>
>
> 					Just my two cents!
>
>
> 							Mandy
>
>
>
>
> Amanda Henning
> Youth Services Assistant
> The Marysville Public Library
> 231 S. Plum St.
> Marysville, Oh  43040
> (937) 642-1876 ex. 25
> ahenning at marysvillelib.org
>  
> 	"In early days, I tried not to give librarians any trouble, which
> was where I made my primary mistake. Librarians like to be given trouble;
> they exist for it, they are geared to it. For the location of a mislaid
> volume, an uncatalogued item, your good librarian has a ferret's nose. Give
> her a scent and she jumps the leash, her eye bright with battle."
>                             
>                                            - Catherine Drinker Bowen
> -----Original Message-----
> From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org]
> On Behalf Of jgehner at hhptf.org
> Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2007 10:58 AM
> To: Publib at webjunction.org
> Subject: [Publib] Second Life Hype vs. Reality
>
> According to WIRED magazine contributing editor Frank Rose:
>
> "Once you put in several hours flailing around learning how to function in
> Second Life, there isn't much to do. That may explain why more than 85
> percent of the avatars created have been abandoned. Linden's in-world
> traffic tally, which factors in both the number of visitors and time
> spent, shows that the big draws for those who do return are free money and
> kinky sex ... And even when corporate destinations actually draw people,
> the PR can be less than ideal. Last winter, CNET's in-world correspondent
> was conducting a live interview with Anshe Chung, an avatar said to have
> earned more than $1 million on virtual real estate deals, when Chung was
> assaulted by flying penises in a griefer attack."
>
> http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-08/ff_sheep
>