Yesterday’s Business Week had an exhaustive report on the overall metaverse space.¬† Here’s a link to the main article (more on this later) .¬† More amusing perhaps are the companion pieces called “Big Spenders of Second Life” and the “Virtual World Rich List“.

Anyhow, I’m quoted (when asked whether Second Life is a good environment for luxury brands), that everyone in Second Life is a luxury buyer — there aren’t any hobos in Second Life.¬† Just wanted to make sure I clear this one up before the resident hobos come after me — there ARE hobos and they rock.¬† Below is Orhalla Zander, creator of the hobo village in SL. (aka Orhalla Millionsofus).¬† Anyway, all love and respect to the SL hobos.

It makes me so happy to see this project come to fruition. Today, in partnership with Crayon (who rock) and the Coca-Cola Company, we launched the “Virtual Thirst” campaign in Second Life. The basic idea that Coke is asking people to help them design the Coke machine of the future. One of the coolest things here is that submissions are welcomed in a wide variety of formats, from objects in Second Life to suggestions in Myspace to videos in Youtube.

Clearly this type of campaign is something of a Holy Grail for those of us trying to push the social media envelope — early forays such as this suggest the promise of effective integration across a variety of social media platforms.

Finally, the thing that tickles me the most here is that the prize is a trip to our offices to help us build the winning entry and be featured in the video that is made! And to think that we’ve been paying people to come to work. . . . . . .

Update — fixed the broken links in the first paragraph.

Hi, I’m a Chris’ random blog post. You may remember me from such blogs as “Gone Global…” and “Reuters: Scion 2008 Lineup Revealed in Chicago & Second Life”.

Alright, so what’s today’s random post going to be about? In my voracious appetite to consume all things social media I sometimes come across things that surprise me about the power of social media. Today’s example is a blog post about our job opening for a VP of Production. Obviously, the blog is all about job positions, but how cool is it that we made it to the point that our jobs get posted alongside Omidyar Network postings. Who by the way, are one of the principle investors in Linden Lab. Small world.

So how did Paul, the author of above blog, get our post? Probably via LinkedIn. It’s really interesting to see how connections develop within this social network. I think there are basically two methods people use. The first is the close network method. The basic logic runs like this: I’m only going to connect with people which I have very close relationships who I trust highly. These people than become highly valuable when your trying to connect to one of their contacts, because you know that if they recommend you, chances are high their recommendation will be followed. In other words,¬† f your trying to sell something, looks for these type of connectors.

The second type are the broad connectors. Those people who will try to create connections as promiscuous as possible. These people are going to be very useful when it comes to selling a service via their contact list, but they will be very valuable if you are trying to tell people about a VP Production job you are trying to fill. Which brings us back to where we started: Small world.
PS: Feel free to connect with me via LinkedIn

PPS: Bonus points to those who guess which type of connector I am.

I can’t stop watching this VIDEO of the event we did to help Scion launch their new line of 2008 cars. I’ve watched it 10 times now and it’s still hard to tell what’s happening in Chicago and whats happening in Scion City Second Life. The Scion guys are amazing clients to have because of the risks they take and how far they push the envelope. Enjoy.

On April 3rd 2007, Intel held their 30th Anniversary Embedded Systems
conference in San Jose. Doug Davis, group GM gave a speech and then
described how Intel had worked with the guys from Orange county
choppers to design a motorcycle based on Intel technology. This video
played and then, with a roar from the crowd, the real bike roared from
backstage and was revealed for the first time.

I’m pretty pleased with how we were able to mashup Google Earth footage with Second Life machinima.

Take a picture of a Second Life celebrity using the Second Life Snapshot feature, and send your Snapshots to pics@sluniverse.com with the subject line: hammerandcoopsl. Most creative entry will receive a real life Gerrard Hammer leather jacket. Winner of yesterday’s challenge: Epredator Potato. Good luck!

Take a picture of a Rock Star. Note: “Rock Star” is open to interpretation by photographers. For example, a picture of “Coop” might be a picture of Coop, Gerrard Hammer‚Äôs car. Or it could be a chicken “coop,” or a Second Life resident named “Coop.” Email your Snapshots to pics@sluniverse.com with the subject line: hammerandcoopsl using the Second Life Snapshot feature. Most creative entry will receive a Knight Rider-inspired LED shirt. Winner of yesterday’s challenge: Timothy Zapotocky

Photograph something “80’s” in Second Life. Email your Snapshots to pics@sluniverse.com with the subject line: hammerandcoopsl using the Second Life Snapshot feature to win Magnum P.I. Season 1 on DVD. Three (3) Prizes awarded each day to ‚Äúmost creative,‚Äù ‚Äúmost MINI‚Äù and ‚Äúquickest‚Äù submissions.

Please DO NOT email pictures as attachments. Winner of yesterday’s challenge: Echo Alphabeta.

Good luck!

Photograph Ninjas in Second Life and win a Travel Kit from Flight 001. How to play: Email your Snapshots to pics@sluniverse.com with the subject line: hammerandcoopsl using the Second Life SNAPSHOT feature. Prizes awarded each day to “most creative,” “most MINI” and “quickest” submissions. Note: DO NOT email pictures as attachments. Please refer to: http//sluniverse.com/pics/how.aspx. Good luck!

WINNER of yesterday’s “Villain” challenge and Knight Rider Season 1 on DVD: Epredator Potato

Today we’ll be launching a project that I’m proud of in so many ways. In partnership with Intel’s Embedded Systems Group, DM2 and Orange County Choppers, we’ve imported the American Chopper experience to Second Life. Here’s the back story:

Intel commissioned the OCC guys to build a bike that celebrated 30 years of Intel being in the embedded systems business. The TV episode that chronicles that build will air sometime in May on TLC. The OCC guys have kept the design under lock and key for the past several months and will today unveil it today at 3PM PST in San Jose at the Intel Embedded Systems Conference. We will open the Second Life Island at the same time.

“Intel Ignites OCC” is the name of the island and it’s a really interesting example of how you can blend TV, celebrities, corporate sponsorship and SL-native experiences. In the workshop, users can build their own custom bike and then take it with them all over SL. These bikes (free for a limited time) are pretty special, lots and lots of work went into them — Enjoy!

Oh yeah, big congrats to Hilary, Gurgon, Lucky, Chris P, Bill, Bodhi, Josh, My, Annette and Munchflower.