I don't think so, but VentureBeat's Matt Marshall reports "…Big Blue concedes it’s time to ask questions about Second Life claim it has two million residents."
I hope to be speak to, and, perhaps interview, Irving Wladawsky-Berger when I'm covering the AlwaysOnNYC Conference next month. As I also work for IBM, as a Web Analyst, it should not be that hard for me to speak with Berger (since I'm present as a blogger/reporter).
According to Game Tomorrow:
"….IBM’s a great believer in the potential of virtual worlds; the team at eightbar created perhaps the best Second Life blog around, and Irving Wladawsky-Berger has offered some deep insight on what the growth of virtual worlds might lead to. Over 1,000 IBMers have joined IBM’s Second Life community; our CEO led an in-world event and most recently we introduced 12 new islands. All levels of the company - including some functions you wouldn’t normally expect - are aggressively exploring how to effectively use Second Life during the course of business.
With that level of participation comes the responsibility to ask tough questions. I think you’ll see IBM exert that kind of leadership as we continue exploring the potential of virtual worlds in the new year. "
On the face of it, Linden Labs should have no problem proving how many active users they have since they track all user accounts - but they may be accounting for that information in their own way.
I've been playing with Second Life lately myself - but not much has been happening for me - I'm sitting around in some Roman Island trying to explore it while not paying any unnecessary Linden Dollars … if you know what I mean.
I'll tell you what I'd like Linden Labs to do next year - provide some sort of API or Metrics Package that allows a user to track the number of visits to their properties (when they have a property in Second Life).
I wrote about a month or two ago about the need for Metrics in Second Life. Maybe that's what Clay Shirky is really after. The problem is …. all the account information (ie: unique visitors, visits, …..impressions? (do we use a term like that for a Second Life creation?) comes from Linden Lab.
If people are going to actually spend money in Second Life and companies, like IBM are going to create business units to develop businesses in Second Life maybe we should also be able to verify the activity we produce in Second Life.
For example - it would be nice to do some kind of visitor segmentation of Second Life residents - outside of what Linden Labs provides. Right? A basic Metrics Package should be something Linden Labs….at least …. should provide individuals and especially businesses who are investing more in Second Life.
Personally, being the Web Analyst for IBM's Second Life …. that would be my dream job - but where's the metrics package …. where's the platform?
By the way, I saw there's a new book about Second Life that I just ordered called Second Life - The Official Guide. Seems to me this would be a good book to have. I don't have a lot of experience with Second Life yet (I hope it does not end up like "The Matrix" where people start living in Second Life more than here) but I do see Second Life and 3D reality worlds, in general, as an interface that erases Time and Space.
It's useful to think about the implications of erasing Time and Space. For one thing, IBM built all their Research Labs in Second Life. I think that's a fantastic idea. In fact, I'm working on one of my clients, an Architect, to build their house plans first in Second Life (at least some of them …. build their own Island … in fact) more as differentiators from what all other competitors are doing.
I believe the implications of Second Life are only going to continue to grow - and to me, at this point - it really does not matter than much if there really are 2 million active residents (depends how "active resident" is defined) - it's more important that this is a strategic direction business in moving in.
