Earlier this month, we posted an entry about media companies popping up in the virtual world Second Life. CNet, Wired and Reuters are there, and the world even has its own newspaper, the Second Life Herald.
Well, now it looks like Second Life Herald is about to get some more competition. Thursday, The AvaStar will start publishing in Second Life as well, according to SLNN, a Second Life news group. “The paper will contain about 30 pages of SL-oriented content in six departments including News, Business, Celebrity & Gossip, Style & Fashion, Travel and Entertainment,” SLNN reported. Axel Springer http://www.axelspringer.com/, a German media mogul, and the company Bild.T-Online are behind The AvaStar. (See PRNewswire for more.)
All of the developments led to some debate in the blogosphere about whether this is really a good “testing ground” for media companies. Howard Owens (who is with Gatehouse Media) wrote in his blog, “I want to be as progressive and forward thinking as the next guy, but is this really good use of scarce new media resources?”
The jury is still out on that one, it appears.
Owens continued, “Building a media property on Second Life just feels more like playing than pursuing a business strategy.” But in an after-thought to that blog post, he wrote, “I’m not sure I’ve been clear enough about looking at this as a business decision and how to manage resources. That’s the main point I’m trying to get at. I think experimentation is good and necessary, but it needs to be smart, balanced experimentation with clear objectives.” He makes a very good point.
In a NewAssignment.net post, Brian C. Howard wrote, “As citizen journalists have learned to become part of the news industry in the real world, the possibilities of this trend in Second Life, a world entirely built upon user-generated content, seems high.”
Second Life is not (and will never be) a perfect parallel to any real world community. But the room for experimentation is still there, and it’s still possible to learn a lot from experimenting in that world. Check out AvaStar on Thursday and let us know what you think by commenting below.