Virtual Marketing in Second Life (SL)
This class gives you a hands-on introduction to virtual marketing in Second Life (SL). During the class, you will be connecting with an employee of Linden Labs and visiting 3 businesses in Second Life. You will document your activities by taking pictures, exploring each "island" to learn what you can, and (hopefully) talking to the people who run the island(s) or spend time there.
Note: If you get stuck, team up with someone else in class. You can take turns "driving" in Second Life and complete all the activities as a pair.
Before Class
Download the Second Life software to your laptop from the following site:
http://secondlife.com/community/downloads.php
It's 34MB which isn't huge but will take 10 minutes or so depending on your internet connection. Run the 'exe' file to install Second Life.
While the software is downloading, you can sign up for a Second Life account at:
https://secure-web12.secondlife.com/join/index.php/Choose-Name
This URL will have your "avatar" (your character in Second Life) start on "Orientation Island".
I believe you are required to complete a tutorial before you can roam around in Second Life. Once you have installed the software and created an account, run the Second Life program and sign in to complete the tutorial.
Activity One
You'll do these activities in small groups. Find 2 other students (groups of 3) in the classroom and work together to complete the rest of these activities. I encourage you to sit next to one another to help each other with Second Life.
Before we get started, let’s set some GROUND RULES:
- Be kinds to others and treat them with respect – there are real people behind the avatars you encounter.
- Always use a person’s name when initiating discussion in Chat
- Chat in public, IM when the other person is not in the vicinity.
- Not everyone has time to chat. Some people are building, scripting, sorting inventory items, etc. Just move along and find someone else to chat with. Don’t take it personally if someone is busy.
- Keep it clean, stay away from “mature adult” areas.
- Con artists are, sadly, everywhere in SL. Be careful.
- You *will* very likely be approached by one or more “griefer” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griefer). Ignore him/her.
Be sure you take some time to get familiar with the movement controls. You can view them at any time by selecting "view" from the top menu and then "movement controls". A small window will appear with the movement controls. The most important are the cursor keys for regular movement (forward/backward). Press and hold 'page up' to fly. Press and hold 'page down' to stop flying.
Camera controls are also important. Here's how they work:
- Put your mouse pointer on an object you want to see closer or orbit
- Hold down the ALT key (keep it down)
- Hold down the left mouse button(keep it down)
- VERY SLOWLY move your mouse around fwd and back and side to side
- if you get out of range just walk your avatar a step it will snap back!
Activity Two
Visit with our Guest, Sue Singer from Linden Labs (the company that created and hosts Second Life). Sue has graciously agreed to be "in-world" from 12:00pm to 1:00pm to visit with all of you. You will find her on NOAA's Island of Meteora.
| Sue's Avatar | Sue in "Real Life" |
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Use this "SLURL" (Second Life URL) to go to the Island of Meteora directly: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Meteora/128/128/0. In order to use the SLURL, log out of Second Life. Enter the SLURL in your browser window and you will be asked if you want to launch Second Life and "teleport" to this location. Alternatively, send Sue an IM in-world and she can help you. Her IM is "Sue Linden". You can add Sue to your list of friends to make it easier to send her a text message.
Once you've found Sue, you can ask her questions about working at Linden Labs or anything about Second Life. She has her MBA so feel free to ask questions related to that. She works from her home in-world as part of the Linden team. Quite a different kind of job! You can ask questions via text or, if you have a headset and mic and you set up voice in Second Life, you can speak to her.
Note that I will also be on Meteora. I'll be hanging out by the "C47" airplane (unless I'm riding the weather balloon). Stop by and say hello. My avatar's name is "Prof Lilliehook".
- Be sure to take your picture with Sue to show that you completed this activity.
- Create a word document and paste your photo into the document. Be sure to put your names at the top.
Activity Three
Start by watching the YouTube video on "Brands in Second Life"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEGHJuCbGdo
As a group, choose 3 companies from the list of the "Top 25" as of Sep 1 2008:
http://theprojectfactory.com/slstats/080901_tpfslstats.jpg
Note: Please use good judgment in selecting the companies to visit for this activity.
- As a group, visit the "islands" for these companies to interact with all of the elements on that island
- For each of the 3 companies:
- Try to find an "employee" of the island. As them questions about their "job".
- Approach other visitors. Introduce yourselves as students.
- Take pictures (be sure to include one picture with the group members on the island)
- Paste your photos into the word document created above. Send the document to me in email.
Activity Four
When you are finished with the company visits, return to Meteora and pose for a "class photo".
Activity Five
As a group, discuss your experiences and observations to answer the questions below. We'll discuss your thoughts during class next week.
- Is Second Life an effective environment for promoting business?
- What are the benefits? What are the drawbacks?
- If the CEO of your business asked you about SL, would you recommend it?
Resources
What is Second Life? http://secondlife.com/whatis/