Video: Philip Rosedale on Web Worlds vs. Second Life and Web Integration
Second Life has actually made strides recently towards integrating with the rest of the Web, but Linden Lab Founder and Chairman Philip Rosedale doesn't talk about them with TechCrunch when asked about integrating with the rest of the Web. The focus, though, is on whether browser-based worlds are a threat to Second Life. TC's Erick Schonfeld asks, though not to Rosedale's face, if he's in denial, referencing the recent launches of Vivaty, Google Lively, and The Electric Sheep's Webflock as well as other Web-based worlds that are on the way. I'd ask more if Schonfeld is confused.
Those platforms, and others that I know of, for the most part seem to provide very different use value propositions--at least for now--not to mention target demographics. The Sheep and Vivaty, so far, are emphasizing their potential for brands and social apps, though both have talked about plans for much broader potential. As for Lively, well, Google says there's a business plan, but it isn't sharing.
Linden Lab still seems to me like it's shifting towards an emphasis on organizations and educators for collaboration and instruction. That's why we're starting to see more things like Rivers Run Red's announcement of Immersive Workspaces, Microsoft discussing the cost saving of events in Second Life, and IBM taking Second Life behind its firewall.
When I do my weekly roundup of who's new in virtual worlds, there are more and more brands popping up in other virtual worlds and more and more organizations talking about Second Life as a tool for internal use. That's not to say marketers are now completely passing over Second Life--not by a long shot--but they're definitely increasingly seeing that value elsewhere.
I'd love to hear your thoughts here, but the comments over on TechCrunch are already started and also pretty interesting.
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