6 Things That Second Life and Facebook Have in Common
As you may (or may not) know, I am in the heart of the valley all week attending two conferences. The first one was Graphing Social Patterns, and I am currently at Virtual Worlds 2007.
As you also may (or may not) know is that I tend to take copious notes at these conferences, alas, my Dell battery is crapping out on me (after only a year) and I was not able to live blog today.
After taking a whole day of hand written notes, I am exhausted, and am not in the mood to write it all up. So instead, I am making a list for you 
6 Things That Second Life and Facebook Have in Common
- Second Life And Facebook are both virtual worlds
- Second Life and Facebook are both persistent environments
- Within Facebook and Second Life, content is social currency
- Second Life and Facebook are both storytelling vehicles, however most of the time, the content is the community
- In both Second Life and Facebook, brands need to adapt to the existing environment and not vice versus or they will certainly fail
- For marketers, Second Life and Facebook must be used as a strategic lever, not a strategy unto itself. If these platforms are not part of some larger push you will most definitely fail.
I have been thinking about social networks and virtual worlds a lot this week (obviously) and have many more things to add to this list, but I added all the items, YOU would not be able to contribute.
Tags: virtual worlds 2007, facebook, social media, marketing, dell, social networks, persistnat worlds, social currency
I WANT TO HEAR WHAT YOU THINK!
Oct 10, 2007
Facebook is a virtual world? I don’t quite understand the reasoning there.
Oct 11, 2007
Second Life News for October 11, 2007…
New ‘Second Life’ viewer adopted by CBS’ ‘CSI’ The Virtual World conference got off to a quick start this morning when The Electric Sheep Company, a leading developer of corporate projects in Second Life, announced that it…
Oct 11, 2007
Can you expand on #1? What is your definition of “virtual world”?
Oct 11, 2007
Tateru and Grace
Sorry it has taken me so long to respond.
At the risk of sounding overly pedantic, allow me to first present the literal definitions the terms we are discussing (just to set the framework)
American Heritage Dictionary
Virtual
adj.
1. Existing or resulting in essence or effect though not in actual fact, form, or name: the virtual extinction of the buffalo.
2. Existing in the mind, especially as a product of the imagination. Used in literary criticism of a text.
3. Computer Science Created, simulated, or carried on by means of a computer or computer network: virtual conversations in a chatroom.
world
–noun
1. the earth or globe, considered as a planet.
2. (often initial capital letter ) a particular division of the earth: the Western world.
3. the earth or a part of it, with its inhabitants, affairs, etc., during a particular period: the ancient world.
4. humankind; the human race; humanity: The world must eliminate war and poverty.
5. the public generally: The whole world knows it.
6. the class of persons devoted to the affairs, interests, or pursuits of this life: The world worships success.
7. a particular class of people, with common interests, aims, etc.: the fashionable world.
8. any sphere, realm, or domain, with all pertaining to it: a child’s world; the world of dreams; the insect world.
9. everything that exists; the universe; the macrocosm.
I do realize that the common usage of the term, “virtual world” in modern parlance connotes something different than what is suggest in these definitions. I also realize it would be incredibly literal and narrow minded of me to not acknowledge the common use of this term, however I feel that the way people use the term “virtual world” is incomplete.
I intentionally meant to be provocative in my statement, Facebook is a virtual world, as I feel the persistent, lifestreaming nature of Facebook renders it more than merely a social network. People “play” in Facebook. People give gifts in Facebook. Many people spend a great deal of there time in Facebook and a large percent of their social interaction take place in Facebook. It is this reason that I feel Facebook is a virtual world.
What do we think
?
Apr 16, 2008
[...] October I wrote a post entitled, "6 Thing That Second Life and Facebook Have In Common". I was intentionally being provocative and got a little bit of pushback on these claims. Well, I am [...]
Apr 16, 2008
[...] October I wrote a post entitled, "6 Thing That Second Life and Facebook Have In Common". I was intentionally being provocative and got a little bit of pushback on these claims. Well, I am [...]
May 30, 2008
[...] In writing this article we explored the differences between 2 dimensional, non persist online communities and 3D virtual worlds. We were in agreeance that at the end of the day, they are pretty much the same thing; online communities. [...]