Clear Ink Releases Open Source Measurement Tool for Second Life

Clear Ink, the agency most recently famous for hosting Newt Gingrich at its Second Life Capitol Hill, has announced the release of Slogbase, an open source tool for measuring and analyzing traffic in Second Life.  The Slogbase beacon identifies incoming avatars, notifies them that they're being monitored, and then transmits the usage data to a Slogbase server via Second Life's Linden Script Language. "Slogbase is simple to install and easily modified, yet gives users an unparalleled breakdown of their property’s visitors,” said Leon Atkinson, vice president and chief technologist, Clear Ink, and the creator of Slogbase.  “Users can attach the lightweight database to multiple properties, as it uses Second Life’s standard LSL code to send sensor data to an external PHP/MySQL application."

"Slogbase enables companies to more accurately measure their in-world initiatives and qualify the results of their experiments in 3D virtual worlds,” said Steve Nelson, executive vice president and chief strategy officer, Clear Ink.  "To that end, we created Slogbase because we believe that if you can’t measure it, it doesn’t exist."

Those are fairly common sentiments in the advertising world, and they're becoming increasingly more important in virtual worlds. Cisco and Metaversed recently teamed up to try and provide a large-scale answer to inconsistent measurements in virtual worlds with the Metaverse Market Index in a play that's been generating some significant interest. But Clear Ink is trying to take the bottom up approach, allowing individuals measure their own traffic.

With Linden Lab looking to create separate grids from its main Second Life and an open source server already out there, the advertisers, and with them the measurements, might start looking at the individual sites more closely as well.

CLEAR INK UNVEILS SLOGBASE, FIRST FREE TOOL
FOR MEASURING SECOND LIFE TRAFFIC

Digital Marketing Agency Uses Proven Web Log Technology as Foundation
for Analyzing Second Life Residents’ “footprints”

BERKELEY, Calif. – Oct. 9, 2007 – Addressing the need for companies to accurately measure marketing efforts in Second Life, leading independent digital marketing agency Clear Ink today announced the release of a completely free tool for collecting and analyzing traffic in the 3D virtual world.  Clear Ink’s Slogbase is now available for free as an open source application.

Based on proven technology, Slogbase's beacons invisibly identify all Second Life avatars within a set area without disturbing the experience of those “residents” within its range.  The beacon identifies the name (Second Life identity, not the actual person) and position of each avatar, and transmits this to the Slogbase server via Second Life’s standard LSL code.

Slogbase allows property owners to see exactly how many avatars have visited their Second Life locations, and where they went, thus enabling the application’s users to track patterns that may help identify areas they could modify to garner increased traffic flow to high-interest sections.

“Slogbase is simple to install and easily modified, yet gives users an unparalleled breakdown of their property’s visitors,” said Leon Atkinson, vice president and chief technologist, Clear Ink, and the creator of Slogbase.  “Users can attach the lightweight database to multiple properties, as it uses Second Life’s standard LSL code to send sensor data to an external PHP/MySQL application.”

On the server side, Slogbase stores the collected data in a MySQL database. Each data record has a timestamp and is associated with a particular account.  Slogbase notes whether the avatar has been there before, or is a first time visitor.

Users receive an RSS feed that informs them of the most recent visitors to their island in Second Life.  This provides them with the knowledge of who visits often, as well providing the option of setting an alert every time a new visitor arrives.

“Slogbase enables companies to more accurately measure their in-world initiatives and qualify the results of their experiments in 3D virtual worlds,” said Steve Nelson, executive vice president and chief strategy officer, Clear Ink.  “To that end, we created Slogbase because we believe that if you can’t measure it, it doesn’t exist.”

Unlike traditional web server logging, Slogbase is designed to send an instant message via the in-world LSL script to avatars within the beacon area, politely informing them that their presence has been noted.  This is part of Clear Ink’s commitment to assisting privacy-conscious, in-world communities.

More information on Clear Ink’s Slogbase, including download instructions, is available at http://www.slogbase.com/.  As an open source application, users can run it on their own or in conjunction with support from Clear Ink.  Slogbase complies with all Second Life terms and conditions. 

About Clear Ink
Clear Ink (http://www.clearink.com/), a 50-person firm devoted to changing the future of marketing, was founded in 2001 by David M. Burk and Steve Nelson and is headquartered in Berkeley, Calif.  The company is a leader in immersive, online experiences and digital demand generation. The firm’s clients include Autodesk, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, 24-Hour Fitness, John Muir Health and others.

# # #

Contact for press:

Jason Wonacott
Wonacott Communications, LLC
(310) 821-2343
jwonacott@wonacottpr.com

Comments

[Prokofy Neva]

I'm glad that Clear Ink has set up a free, open source tool for measuring traffic. For too long, these sorts of scripts have been kept closed and sometimes offered for high prices as part of a consulting package.

However, I still think the Lindens' publicly viewable traffic statistics in SEARCH PLACES should not be removed. It's one thing for everyone to have a free and accessible tool to measure their own traffic; it's another matter for the public to be able to see instantly how well various venues actually do, traffic-wise, it adds more transparency.

And while the first few slots in the list are gamed, of course, the rest are not, and are the result of merit -- and the traffic is a very useful metric for shoppers and explorers. The Lindens' formula for traffic isn't revealed and is sometimes criticised as arcane, but it basically does the job of telling you whether a site is able to earn its keep is sales or not.

My major concern about Clear Ink's product is that it appears all the metrics from everybody's islands then are stored on their Slogbase, so that essentially, they pwn everybody's proprietary information about how well their islands are doing. It puts them in a very powerful position to research the market -- for free (just as with the Lindens and their access to similar information from the grid). To what use will this information stored be used, and will it be resold?