Social Media in Second Life

 

Social media allows us to behave in ways that we are hardwired for in the first place - as humans. We can get frank recommendations from other humans instead of from faceless companies.

Francois Gossieaux

 

Once upon a time, (Now, that sounds familiar doesn’t it?) my original purpose in coming into Second Life (SL) and blogging about it was to serve as a stepping stone to something bigger, the Metaverse. 

I wanted to go out and see the virtual world so to speak.  But, as I’ve alluded to a few times in the past, I came inworld, kind of liked the neighborhood and stayed.  (Significant Other says that I’m more like a houseguest who has overstayed his welcome.)  However, the Metaverse never went away, it’s still out there.  Someday, I’ll continue on my journey.  (To my SL friends, don’t worry, I’m not going anyplace soon!)

That collection of websites, servers, routers, blogs, wires, and general whatever else is still out there, beckoning.  Not to mention, all the people, both real and virtual, who make it happen and exist there. It’s all out there somewhere. 

Within the Metaverse are all sorts of categories and sub-categories of possible existences.  One of these categories is entitled social media.  This encompasses many different sub-categories like social networks, microblogs, sharing, publishing, MMO’s, and virtual worlds.  Many, including myself, include SL in the latter category.  SL is part of the social media phenomena.  (Bet some of you didn’t know that!) 

Within SL, we have our own little ecosystem much like Earth in the Milky Way.  Unlike our ancient Real Life (RL) ancestors and ourselves who gazed into the night sky and wondered if we were alone, in the Metaverse, we know that we are not alone.

In RL, space exploration exists, the SETI scans the heavens looking for hints of alien civilizations and wonders why we don’t hear anything.  (The Fermi Paradox notwithstanding, Carl Sagan knew and we fail to heed his words at own peril.)  Yet, within the Metaverse, we virtually (no pun intended) ignore the evidence and really don’t use the tools available to us to reach out and touch other virtual worlds let alone the rest of the Metaverse.

Tools like Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Flickr are just a few examples of what’s available to us if we want to use them.  (Admittedly, use of Facebook is somewhat problematic and some SL avi’s seem to spend more time being thrown off than being on but by playing within the rules, some exist there.) Yet, for all the use made of these tools, there doesn’t appear to be a collective consciousness of who we are out there.  Our presence in the Metaverse beyond SL is more like a note in a bottle thrown out into the sea in the hopes of landing somewhere. 

SL, for all its benefits, imposes constraints on us who use it.  Communications are mainly inworld.  Trying to reach into SL when one isn’t using a SL viewer is difficult and the experience is nowhere near as rich as when one is inworld.  Trust me, I know from firsthand experience. 

Then there is what I call the Planet Krypton scenario. What would happen if SL were to go poof like Superman’s home world?  Couldn’t happen you say?  Remember There.com?  Sure it may be back now but read Celia Pearce’s account in Communities of Play of the trauma of its closure and the efforts of the diaspora to reestablish themselves elsewhere.  The communities that we have inworld are as fragile as they are marvelous.  Yet, no one thinks about what we would do or where we would go if Linden Lab (LL) pulls the plug.  It can happen.  If the entire US home mortgage market could almost go poof in the blink of an eye in 2008, trust me on this, then taking out a little virtual world is cake.

Even in RL today, people are asking if we can avoid the fate of the dinosaur.  Can we stop asteroids?  Could we move beyond our galaxy if we had to?  Authors write loads of books, both fiction and non-fiction, on these topics.

Yet, we who have the tools we need at our disposal do nothing about moving beyond our virtual world.  (Or, if we are then it’s being kept well hidden from me which Significant Other suggests might be advisable.) 

I don’t want to get too philosophical about this.  But permit me to ask a few questions here. First, can we exist beyond the boundaries of SL?  Next, where do avatars go when they die, if they die?  Finally, to paraphrase Philip K. Dick, do avatars dream of electronic sheep when they sleep?  (Significant Other believes that I’ve seen The Matrix movies too many times.)

Maybe I’m getting a little carried away.  But, please take my point.  Can the SL community exist beyond the confines of LL’s servers?  (And, no, I’m not trying to alarm LL into improving service.  Although, anything of the sort would be welcome.) 

The questions I’d like to take into the New Year are can we extend the conversation beyond SL via social media?  Can we build a tweetstream for the SL community as one example?

In 2014, I’m going to try and do this.  I welcome anyone who would like to join me. 

My Twitter handle is @webspelunker.  Please feel free to follow me and I’d be happy to follow you.

If anyone needs assistance in getting established in Twitter as a start, I’d be happy to help.  (Twitter is more welcoming to nom de plumes and is simpler to set up.) 

I’d appreciate your thoughts on this topic and look forward to working with some of you on this in 2014!

Happy Holidays!

As always, I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through their lives.    

I welcome feedback from readers, please either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com . 

          If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.