For those interested, I’ve provided notes on last week’s Second Life presentation by Adam Pasick at the Ann Arbor IT Zone.

Background Information

1. 1.5 million users
2. 40% of users are outside the United States, equally split between men and women
3. users are considered to be young and rich
4. $600K is exchanged daily
5. Linden dollars (the currency used on Second Life) is exchangeable with US dollars
6. users create their own homes or islands
7. islands cost $1700

Community

1. users can make an island private, or open to all
2. word about products and services are passed throughout the Second Life community by word of mouth
3. search functionality is not good
4. traditional websites are linking to their Second Life sites through slurls (Second Life urls)
5. close knit community
6. currently only 50 people can gather in one place in Second Life

Interaction

1. users interact with each other through avatars
2. to talk with another user, use text or a phone call at the same time (many people use Skype)
3. currently no audio capabilities

Companies/Organization on Second Life

1. IBM - a place to hold meetings (They also have this years Wimbledon video available in some form, on a private island)
2. Dell - you can buy a computer on Second Life
3. Amazon - you can buy a book from Amazon
4. Nissan

Development companies are charging between $20-$100K to create Second Life communities.

• News