We hear a lot of talk that Second Life is one of the pioneers in the next phase, the 3D Web. Web 3.0 is envisioned as an extension of Web 2.0, which has spawned vibrant growth in social interaction and community growth. The 3D Web of the future, as BusinessWeek phrases it, may be ” slicker, more realistic, more interactive and social than anything we experience today through the Web browser”. We are just now envisioning how businesses, educational institutions, non-profits and communities might interact in this future web environment.
On the other side are the naysayers who seem to think that Second Life is just a game destination filled with sex and gambling, and not part of a movement of any importance whatsoever. (Well, we all know that SL gambling is under cover these days, but not eradicated.) This, despite evidence that goes beyond subjective anecdotes, evidence that shows people spend most of their time in Second Life shopping and just socializing. For example, a Reuters survey of 657 Second Life residents in 2007 before casinos were banned from SL showed that only 13.6 percent said they “often” practice cybersex, and only 2.2 percent patronized casinos regularly.
But with big brand businesses, universities and conferences holding real time events in Second Life, it’s exciting to watch. Just this week in the Second Life Reuters Auditorium, the interested could sit in on live interviews from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. We heard Richard Edelman, president and CEO of the world’s largest public relations firm, Martin Sorrell, CEO of the world’s second-largest advertising and marketing company, Robert Scoble, well-known tech geek blogger, Linden Labs CEO Phillip Rosedale and others. (Course, Scoble was banned from SL last year for letting his 12 year old son play in Second Life with him, but then he was banned from FaceBook at the beginning of the month too… but I digress.) Here you can see a bit of turn-around as Robert Scoble interviews Phillip Rosedale, which he sent as a live feed via qik.
A lot of real life businesses are in Second Life, but to a large degree as an effort to position themselves as on the edge, rather than due to any expectations of driving immediate sales. I for one would love to hold conferences in Second Life for my real life clients, but it’s still a bit early to use Second Life to market to consumers not already Second Life residents or to use Second Life as a replacement for WebEx. However, as the technology becomes more stable, and Second Life and similar, future applications become easier to use, it will be fascinating to watch how the Web evolves.
Not long ago people were rolling their eyes at social media sites like YouTube, FaceBook and Twitter. (Well, let’s face it, businesses are still figuring out how to interact with their customers in this new world of consumer generated content and social networking.) But like today’s Internet (and any other media format you want to name for that matter), the future Web is bound to run the gamut of human interests - and savvy entrepreneurs will find opportunities around all of them.