Second Life is Still Around but Media is Less Interested
The BBC has an article about Linden Labs' virtual world called Second Life and how it has faded from the news. The BBC says media mentions of the virtual world peaked in 2008. Some retailers that opened up shop in Second Life when it was still getting lots of press ended up closing them. American Apparel's virtual retail shop in Second Life lasted just a year.
But just as quickly as it had flared, media interest ebbed away. References plummeted by 40% in 2008 and dropped further this year. And businesses diverted their resources back to real life.
American Apparel closed its shop just one year after opening. Reuters pulled its correspondent in October 2008. When asked about his virtual experience, Pasick says: "It isn't a subject we like to revisit."
Wired UK editor-at-large Ben Hammersley told the BBC that stores would get 20-30 visitors when they first opened in Second Life but then the number of visitors would quickly dwindle.
It could be that these stores were just too early and it will take time for Second Life to grow. Linden Labs claims the number of Second Life users logging in is still climbing.
"Monthly repeat login - a metric we use to gauge the number of users engaged with Second Life - grew 23% from September 2008 to September 2009," says Mark Kingdon, chief executive of Linden Lab.
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On average, a million people log in each month, he says. In October 2009, 75,000 of those were in the UK.
Second Life may need to find a way to go mobile if it is to become a hot property again. There might be a way the company can do this with augmented reality. If not, it will have to find a way to continue growing without the press it received during 2007 and 2008.
