Posted: 29 Jan 2010 10:10 AM PST
Second Life made strides in 2009, as T talked about in his recent blog post, but we still have work to do. There are some big changes ahead this year as we start to make SL more intuitive, more relevant and more connected to the social Web. Today I want to talk about one of the social strategy initiatives we have planned, and tell you about an acquisition we've just completed that will help us in this area.
I've met many amazing people in Second Life and I am sure you have too. This is a big part of what makes Second Life so powerful. It's the "social glue" of experiencing an online world together that makes being there worthwhile. When we talk to the users who sign up but then decide not to stay, they say they left, in part, because they had a hard time finding people to hang out with. Either their friends weren't there, or they have a hard time meeting new ones inworld, or sometimes both. We need to fix this.
Another part of the "social glue" of any community is the concept of sharing. Inworld, it's easy to share and we'll make it even easier. But sharing between Second Life and the larger social Web is not as easy. As an avid photographer (well, aspiring to be avid), I'd love to be able to easily share my snapshots from Second Life with my friends on other Web services, and be able to watch a feed of the people I'm interested in. It's a great way to meet new people, find cool things and interesting places to visit. Sure, I have my own work-arounds for those capabilities, but it's standard practice to build easy sharing into experiences today and that's what we're going to do. More people will share in more places, and through that more people will discover the wonders of Second Life.
One of our priorities this year (and there are many, from making the experience more intuitive to reducing Lag), is to give Residents new and better ways to connect and share, through features like the following:
One thing I want to be clear about: The first design principle in this social strategy is respect of your privacy. We aren't going to take away any privacy or anonymity for those that want it. We are not going to "out" people. We are not going to force anyone to reveal any private or personal information. But for those who want to connect their various online identities, we do want to offer that option. Second Life has always been inclusive, and although there are many Residents who keep a strict separation between SL and the rest of the Web, others wish there was a better way to actively link their SL account to other Web services, and do things like share screenshots, locations, wish-lists, experiences and stories more easily. Our proprietary stance on naming and social networking hasn't served that second set of Residents as well as we would like, and that's one of the things we'll change and improve. But for those who don't want to opt in to an arrangement like that, nothing at all will change.
To help us do all this, we're excited to announce an acquisition we've just made that will soon start to give Residents new and better ways to connect with each other and with the rest of the world: Enemy Unknown AB is a Swedish company that runs Avatars United, a Web-based community site designed especially for avatars. We're proud to announce that they are now part of Linden Lab.
Avatars United lets you make some of those connections that I'm talking about above. It's a great site. Check it out and add me, T Linden, and others to your friend list. As you do, you'll start to build an activity feed (similar to Facebook or Twitter) that keeps you in closer touch with the people you're connected to in Second Life. This is one of the most exciting things about the acquisition, this ability to reach my friends more easily, with more interesting information (and photos!), and in a more meaningful way. As we go, we'll be adding to these capabilities -- and because Avatars United provides developer APIs, anyone else can add to these capabilites as well.
One thing we're really excited about is the team behind the AU site. Thor Olof and his team bring a wealth of talent to Linden Lab. More importantly, these guys get it, they know that the social needs of avatars are often unique, and they know how to serve them. One exciting side effect of this acquisition is the prospect of having an ecosystem of Second Life apps grow up around Avatars United. The AU team already has an active and growing developer program, and we're looking forward to seeing what the endlessly talented SL dev community can do there. (I'm betting/hoping that a groups app will be one of the first to emerge.) What kind of Second Life apps would you like? What kinds of APIs would you like to be able to develop on?
In coming months, we'll be looking at the best way to create new services for Second Life around some of the sharing and networking tools that Avatars United has to offer. The AU team is focused on how to extend their platform out to other social networks, sites, and blogs. That will also be key to how we want to connect the expanse of Second Life-related sites, and give them a higher profile on the Web. In the meantime, we invite you to create a profile for your Second Life avatar (or your avatar in another online world), and let us know what you think. As we work to bring AU closer to Second Life, we'll also be helping the company scale its own offering; the AU site itself isn't going away. One of the most interesting elements of AU is that there are profiles from many MMORPGs and online worlds on the site. We love this aspect of AU, and we're committed to keeping this ideal of a place where avatars from multiple worlds and games can come together. While our focus is SL, we will continue to support these communities and keep them engaged. We're looking forward to seeing what kinds of connections people build with the new tools we're working on, both within Second Life itself, and between SL and elsewhere, for those that want it. What kinds of connections would you like to see?
Second Life made strides in 2009, as T talked about in his recent blog post, but we still have work to do. There are some big changes ahead this year as we start to make SL more intuitive, more relevant and more connected to the social Web. Today I want to talk about one of the social strategy initiatives we have planned, and tell you about an acquisition we've just completed that will help us in this area.
I've met many amazing people in Second Life and I am sure you have too. This is a big part of what makes Second Life so powerful. It's the "social glue" of experiencing an online world together that makes being there worthwhile. When we talk to the users who sign up but then decide not to stay, they say they left, in part, because they had a hard time finding people to hang out with. Either their friends weren't there, or they have a hard time meeting new ones inworld, or sometimes both. We need to fix this.
Another part of the "social glue" of any community is the concept of sharing. Inworld, it's easy to share and we'll make it even easier. But sharing between Second Life and the larger social Web is not as easy. As an avid photographer (well, aspiring to be avid), I'd love to be able to easily share my snapshots from Second Life with my friends on other Web services, and be able to watch a feed of the people I'm interested in. It's a great way to meet new people, find cool things and interesting places to visit. Sure, I have my own work-arounds for those capabilities, but it's standard practice to build easy sharing into experiences today and that's what we're going to do. More people will share in more places, and through that more people will discover the wonders of Second Life.
One of our priorities this year (and there are many, from making the experience more intuitive to reducing Lag), is to give Residents new and better ways to connect and share, through features like the following:
- Searchable profiles
- Friend and activity feeds
- Widgets and viral content
- Optional registration and sign-in using credentials from other properties (Facebook, Yahoo!, etc.)
- APIs that enable developers to create widgets, tools, and sites pulling from selected SL data feeds
One thing I want to be clear about: The first design principle in this social strategy is respect of your privacy. We aren't going to take away any privacy or anonymity for those that want it. We are not going to "out" people. We are not going to force anyone to reveal any private or personal information. But for those who want to connect their various online identities, we do want to offer that option. Second Life has always been inclusive, and although there are many Residents who keep a strict separation between SL and the rest of the Web, others wish there was a better way to actively link their SL account to other Web services, and do things like share screenshots, locations, wish-lists, experiences and stories more easily. Our proprietary stance on naming and social networking hasn't served that second set of Residents as well as we would like, and that's one of the things we'll change and improve. But for those who don't want to opt in to an arrangement like that, nothing at all will change.
To help us do all this, we're excited to announce an acquisition we've just made that will soon start to give Residents new and better ways to connect with each other and with the rest of the world: Enemy Unknown AB is a Swedish company that runs Avatars United, a Web-based community site designed especially for avatars. We're proud to announce that they are now part of Linden Lab.
Avatars United lets you make some of those connections that I'm talking about above. It's a great site. Check it out and add me, T Linden, and others to your friend list. As you do, you'll start to build an activity feed (similar to Facebook or Twitter) that keeps you in closer touch with the people you're connected to in Second Life. This is one of the most exciting things about the acquisition, this ability to reach my friends more easily, with more interesting information (and photos!), and in a more meaningful way. As we go, we'll be adding to these capabilities -- and because Avatars United provides developer APIs, anyone else can add to these capabilites as well.
One thing we're really excited about is the team behind the AU site. Thor Olof and his team bring a wealth of talent to Linden Lab. More importantly, these guys get it, they know that the social needs of avatars are often unique, and they know how to serve them. One exciting side effect of this acquisition is the prospect of having an ecosystem of Second Life apps grow up around Avatars United. The AU team already has an active and growing developer program, and we're looking forward to seeing what the endlessly talented SL dev community can do there. (I'm betting/hoping that a groups app will be one of the first to emerge.) What kind of Second Life apps would you like? What kinds of APIs would you like to be able to develop on?
In coming months, we'll be looking at the best way to create new services for Second Life around some of the sharing and networking tools that Avatars United has to offer. The AU team is focused on how to extend their platform out to other social networks, sites, and blogs. That will also be key to how we want to connect the expanse of Second Life-related sites, and give them a higher profile on the Web. In the meantime, we invite you to create a profile for your Second Life avatar (or your avatar in another online world), and let us know what you think. As we work to bring AU closer to Second Life, we'll also be helping the company scale its own offering; the AU site itself isn't going away. One of the most interesting elements of AU is that there are profiles from many MMORPGs and online worlds on the site. We love this aspect of AU, and we're committed to keeping this ideal of a place where avatars from multiple worlds and games can come together. While our focus is SL, we will continue to support these communities and keep them engaged. We're looking forward to seeing what kinds of connections people build with the new tools we're working on, both within Second Life itself, and between SL and elsewhere, for those that want it. What kinds of connections would you like to see?