Prepared with Bronwyn Stuckey's insights about learning in virtual environments and thanks to Thomas Falconer, February 13 I was a fortunate guest at the Internet Strategy Forum's Second Life presentation. Hats off to Lee Huang for enticing Nic Fulton, Chief Scientist, Reuters and David Leip, Chief Innovation Officer, IBM.com, (representing two of the most high profile companies doing business in Second Life) to share their experiences and learning.
A very rich conversation but essential takeaways:
1. Nic Fulton's insights into creating Second Life environments to engage participants and warnings about being prepared for the totally unexpected. I gather doing business in Second Life is not for those with a penchant to be in control.
2. David Leip's focus on the need to measure effectiveness of Second Life investments.
David offered a thoughtful list of metrics to consider from day one. (Shared with permission, thank you).
- Number of visitors, preferably unique
- Measuring attention to assets
- How long do visitors stay?
- How often are the various assets used?
- With how many clients does each staff member interact?
- How often does a visitor to your property leave satisfied?
- How many leads and sales are connected to Second Life experience?
- How many web downloads originate from Second Life?
- How is lead generation?
- ROI on Second Life investment. (Expenses include property development and staffing.)
I wonder how many web site, let alone virtual world, owners have easy access to these metrics?
Having just come from the FAST Forward conference in San Diego with people from leading companies scurrying to give access to enterprise knowledge, and people, through search, I also wondered who is thinking about giving wide enterprise visibility to Second Life assets?
Thank you Nic, David and ISF for a terrific session.
~ Jenny Ambrozek
