(adding a PS about the BBC controversy)
ArminasX Saiman on Second Effects is musing about the flattening of the online users stats of Second Life. There is the Linden Lab policy on bots which certainly has an impact.
Saiman has an additional explanation: the two-year attention span. Whatever people undertake in terms of new interests, work, volunteer work and hobbies, the passion seems to fade away after two years.
Because mainstream media are rather silent about Second Life now (compared to the hype years), there is no stream of new residents compensating for those who are losing interest.
What do you think about this two-year attention span theory? I don’t know what to think of it myself. I do agree however that while the influence and importance of social media is increasing dramatically, there is no comparable evolution for Second Life. Maybe it’s a good thing to escape from the hype this time and to improve the environment steadily for long-term success. But I do think many believers in virtual worlds would love to see a more convincing adoption rate.
Roland Legrand
PS I forgot to mention the BBC news article, which of course is a mainstream media outlet discussing Second Life, but in a negative way and in fact repeating some old stuff. There was an official Linden reaction and an analysis by Wagner James Au on the New World Notes. Wagner James Au reminds us that Second Life more than tripled its active user base since 2006, is used by numerous Fortune 500 companies and several branches of the US government, and is run by a company that was just ranked among the top 25 Internet start-ups.
All of which is very true, but the New World Notes also ran two posts about a growth plateau and about how to make the world truly mass-market: by deep integration with Facebook and by point-and-click avatar movement… So while it is true that mainstream media seem to react late and not well informed on Second Life, it is also true there is a lot of work and of change to be done in order to convince mass-markets that Second Life is definitely worth a try.