Coca-Cola, Adidas, Cisco Systems, and IBM. Well-known companies – a few of the well-known companies present within the virtual world of Second Life. These large companies are finding ways to interact with their customers.
Cisco systems adapted Second Life, early on. They initially created a virtual space similar to their corporate website, complete with 3-D buildings and web content. This quickly became an unpopulated place and wasn’t receiving positive results. Based on unfavorable results, Cisco realized it was time to make a change. Cisco’s intiatial set-up was proving unappealing to interactive users. “It turned out people wanted to log on to Second Life to hang out with friends and play casual games, not visit a 3-D version of a corporate Web site.” (Hillis, 2007) Cisco retuned its space on Second Life with one main focus - meetings between customers and employees. Personal meetings and relationships within Second Life are the new and innovative type of communicative technology.
An article posted on CNN.com, shows how some companies are using Second Life as a tool to recruit new employees. Companies are going as far as finding potential new employees and beginning initial interviews within the Second Life program. In addition, SL is allowing recruiting companies to hire employees and alleviating the face-to-face interview process. Recruiters are saying SL gives good insight to how people communicate and represent themselves in real life. Experts are saying that as Second Life becomes more realistic there will be a rapid change in who is participating and what information they are sharing. Another aspect of this virtual world that businesses are finding positive is the way that the head of a company can communicate with anyone in the organization on an equal level. This is found to be beneficial for both parties and the organization as a hole for a few reasons. The boss who can talk to his entire company on an equal basis can learn more then one who is lacking this virtual world that second life gives. They can make the best decisions possible with the knowledge they get from talking to people on every level. For the people on the other side of the spectrum they are getting the ability to be heard. This is something that most big corporations lack and is obviously more beneficial to the ones that do. People getting heard and feedback on there ideas and even personal needs or whatever might come up are going to be better workers for whatever they are doing
A second company with much invested in Second Life is IBM. They are using the platform in many unique ways that seems to transcend basic public relation. “IBM has embraced Second Life to an extent unmatched by any other major company — it has more than 230 employees spending time in-world, and it owns some half-dozen islands.” (Reuters, 2006) A large contributing factor for companies such as IBM getting involved with Second Life is the lucrative video game industry which grosses about $7 billion annually and the ever increasing popularity of morphs and virtual worlds. It would be hard for any technology based company to ignore the presence of these mediums of communication and entertainment. One very unique way that IBM used Second Life was to recreate an actual live tennis tournament within the platform by tracking data on the ball’s movement and sending that to a place in Second Life within seconds of the actual play happening. IBM also uses Second Life for conventions, meetings, keynotes, etc… They are basically trying to transport most aspects of their real world business into the virtual world. IBM is currently considering developing its own virtual world platform for use within the company.
“New technologies augment existing technologies rather than replace them.” (Miller, K 2006) This statement applies to Second Life quite well. The activities that take place within Second Life, including those done in the corporate world, could be done easily with another form of computer mediated communication. A third company that uses Second Life is Dominos Pizza. People can order real life pizza in Second Life. That basically explains the strategy behind the presence of Dominos within Second Life. This service could easily be done with other forms of communication. There is, however, no reason not to open your business up to as many channels of communication as possible to reach the most consumers possible.
Another aspect of this virtual world that businesses are finding positive is the way that the head of a company can communicate with anyone in the organization on an equal level. This is found to be beneficial for both parties and the organization as a hole for a few reasons. The boss who can talk to his entire company on an equal basis can learn more then one who is lacking this virtual world that second life gives. They can make the best decisions possible with the knowledge they get from talking to people on every level. For the people on the other side of the spectrum they are getting the ability to be heard. This is something that most big corporations lack and is obviously more beneficial to the ones that do. People getting heard and feedback on there ideas and even personal needs or whatever might come up are going to be better workers for whatever they are doing.
A second company with much invested in Second Life is IBM. They are using the platform in many unique ways that seems to transcend basic public relation. “IBM has embraced Second Life to an extent unmatched by any other major company — it has more than 230 employees spending time in-world, and it owns some half-dozen islands.” (Reuters, 2006)
A large factor contributing to companies such as the successful and well-known IBM, getting involved with Second Life is the lucrative video game industry – grossing approximately $7 billion annually, and the ever increasing popularity of mmorpgs and virtual worlds. The communication and entertainment value of these additions leaves companies with an even more positive view of SL.
One very unique way that IBM used Second Life was to recreate an actual live tennis tournament within the platform by tracking data on the ball’s movement and sending that to a place in Second Life within seconds of the actual play happening.
IBM also uses Second Life for conventions, meetings, keynotes, etc. IBM is focusing on transporting most aspects of their real world business into the virtual world. IBM is currently considering developing its own virtual world platform for use within the company.
“New technologies augment existing technologies rather than replace them.” (Miller, K 2006) This statement applies to Second Life quite well. The activities that take place within Second Life, including those done in the corporate world, could be done easily with another form of computer mediated communication.
Dominos Pizza – another successful company getting involved in Second Life. People can order a real pizza from Second Life. This service could easily be accomplished through a standard order online or phone call. There is, however, no reason not to open your business up to as many channels of communication to reach as many consumers as possible.
Businesses are finding another positive aspect of SL. The head of the company can communicate with anyone in the organization on an equal level. Both parties find this to be beneficial for a few reasons: the boss who can talk to his entire company on an equal basis can learn more, as compared to another who is lacking the virtual world opportunity. They can make the best decisions possible with the knowledge they get from talking to people on every level. For the people on the other side of the spectrum they are getting the ability to be heard. This is something that most big corporations lack and is obviously more beneficial to the ones that do. People getting heard and feedback on there ideas and even personal needs or whatever might come up are going to be better workers for whatever they are doing.
Reuters, Adam. “IBM eyes move into Second Life ‘v-business’. Reuters.
http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2006/10/24/ibm-eyes-move-into-second-life-v-business/
Hillis, Scott. “Companies Shifting Virtual World Strategies” Reuters
http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2007/10/11/companies-shifting-virtual-world-strategies/
1 comment:
This posted funny. Sorry, IDK!
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