Some minor issues

Still 1 question to go in the new marketing FAQ: “Why on earth do people use sites like second life?”

Phillip finished the faq earlier, you can find his answer here, and an overview of all his answers here.

So why do people use sites/applications like second life? I have to guess. I’m not a big user myself. I have an account, and sporadically I do log in, but only to stay 15 minutes or so and wander around. However, I think I can guess a few reasons why people use it.

1/ Fun. They just like it. It’s a new form of exploration, and you’ll just keep discovering stuff.
2/ Social. You’ll meet people all over the world. You can chat with them, get to know them.
3/ Virtual hideout. Following fun part. If people are bored, they want something to do. SL can give them a goal.
4/ Craftsmanship. You can build stuff, and you can master your skills.
5/ Buzz. People are talking a lot about it nowadays, so it must be something cool.
6/ Porn. Face it, there’s a lot of pornography going on in second life, so of course this is a factor (for some people, not all of course)
7/ Sub-culture. Combination of a few reasons already mentioned (social, fun, ..). People identify with this world they created, with their own avatar they shaped, ..
8/ It’s a game without a goal. Some people hate this, other loves it.
9/ ..

There are a few more reasons thinkable, but in the end it doesn’t matter (and yet it does, I’ll explain in a while). The thing is: a lot of people are using it. Second life is just a recent version of the chat boxes we knew back in the 90s. And indeed, the individual media consumption (and identification) do play an important roll, as Philippe and An Handley are pointing out. The media usage just changes, new forms are emerging.

A lot of people are using it, so it becomes, automatically, an interesting place for marketeers. Where people are, marketing makes sense. SL is an environment where marketeers can convince their clients and prospects on a creative and effective way. And here is where user-goals become important again. If you understand why the people you are targeting to use the medium, you can take this into account