Current issues of Newsweek and Wired offer two opposite views of the Second Life virtual world.
Newsweek's article, "Alternate Universe," is overwhelmingly positive, claiming that "Second Life is emerging as a powerful new medium for social interactions of all sorts, from romance to making money. It may be the Internet's next big thing."
Wired's article, "How Madison Avenue Is Wasting Millions on a Deserted Second Life," is decidedly negative, stating that the environment is largely empty, hindered by nonscalable technology and boring. >> Full Story
Thoughts// A great post from Computerworld Magazine on the current debate over Second Life. Many organizations, including major media outlets (such as Newsweek) and even the WTM, are praising Second Life as a major marketing breakthrough while new questions and statistics are showing a different story. Personally, I tend to agree a bit more with the Wired article that casts doubt on how powerful a marketing vehicle Second Life really is. While Second Life is certainly a very popular and cutting-edge offering for the general public, the question is, can Second Life be an effective marketing tool to spend considerable time and money on. For most marketers, the answer would be no.
If you are interested in the Second Life phenomenon and how avatars, gambling and cyber-space 'shootings' are all part of the game, I would highly recommend reading both the Newsweek and Wired articles as well as this article from TIME. They offer differing views, but all three provide a good look into this virtual world.
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