Comments on: Hype Alert: Second Life’s Media Focus Outpaces its Business Success

By: Articles of Interest « Summer Practicum

Articles of Interest « Summer Practicum — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 05:01:00 +0000

[...] Cohen, Ephraim. “Hype Alert: Second Life’s Media Focus Outpaces its Business Success.” 15 November 2006. 15 July 2007. [...]

By: Blog Run » Blog Archive » It’s not the A list, is Second Life Hype Life?, Quotes Matter, And Listen

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 07:03:57 +0000

[...] B2B Insight: Hype Alert: Second Lifeâ€™s Media Focus Outpaces itâ€™s Business Success An interesting post about PR and advertising taking Second Life too seriously. I like SL, I am “in life” and I see the wonderful things that can be done. But, should there be press conferences there? As Andy Lark notes, it seems wrong – but unfortunately there are too many PR firms that jump on bandwagons – let’s open up in SL!! – and don’t think about being part of the community first. [...]

By: Ephraim Cohen

Ephraim Cohen — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 20:40:45 +0000

Agreed and not just for first life. Good strategy that has publicity value, as opposed to just aiming for publicity, is a good rule to follow.

By: Kevin Dugan

Kevin Dugan — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 18:37:28 +0000

Ephraim: If the strategy is right, and not publicity-driven, I hope businesses still pursue Second Life. The ones that do it just for the buzz deserve the ire. They make it tougher for the valid opportunities.

As far as the next big thing, I’ll wait until it hits me over the head the way Second Life did.

By: Ephraim Cohen

Ephraim Cohen — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 16:20:11 +0000

Good point and great example. Testing a hotel concept in SL is a consumer version of what engineering companies have been doing for years (I believe Boeing built the 777 virtually first). That is a great long term value of SL. As someone who looks to launch researched based programs, I may make use of this.

I don’t want to get too down on SL. Over a year ago I recommended a client open a business after I felt it was about to take off in publicity popularity. Now I just feel it’s peaking so that anyone trying to leverage it today is taking a publicity risk and tomorrow it will just be considered old news.

Now I’m focused on what will be the next hyped platform marketers can use to create awareness. For example, mobile social networks are gaining ground. Companies like Upoc (they create what are essentially SMS social networks) may be the next hype target of media and marketing/public relations professionals.

By: Kevin Dugan

Kevin Dugan — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 06:21:57 +0000

Ephraim: The hype is nauseating to be sure. But I think SL will find a niche as a virtual test lab.

Aloft offers a commercial example of how Starwoods is testing a hotel concept in SL and building a brand based in SL feedback. The CDC are running scenarios in SL they could not create safely in the real world.

By applying creativity to do more than simply mirror the real world, we might find some pragmatic uses for this flavor. Holding press conferences in SL makes as much sense as holding them in the real world.

Consider a btob brand. Plenty of room here to test and have fun with concepts they might not be able to replicate as cheaply or as easily in the real world.

FWIW