Second Life | Lawrence Gee | Marketing, Internet, Creativity, Strategy

Posts related to: Second Life

Is Virtual News Newsworthy?

November 13, 2007 – 2:49 am

CNN annouced that they were going to have a presence within the virtual world of Second Life. This begs the question if this really makes sense or not. The main premise is for Second Life “residents” to submit user generated content to CNN I-Report Hub in the virtual environment. This content could be from the “real” world or what residents deem newsworthy within Second Life.

While CNN aims to be one of the leaders in news and information delivery, I truly question whether anyone really cares about “virtual” news. I understand that most companies today want to be on the cutting edge of Web 2.0 intiatives but I think that CNN is stretching a bit on their Second Life presence. For the amount of money and resources they have probably invested, CNN will probably not get much out of this intiative.

In terms of branding, CNN is already highly recognizable in both the television/cable arena as well as on the Internet. While their “virtual” presence might spur some initial interest and submissions, I think after a few months the novelty will disappear. Most people gloss over real world news and the happenings around the globe, I doubt that virtual news will be any different. Do you really think that people will care about a 10 car pile up on the virtual Second Life freeway or that a virtual sports team won last night? I highly doubt it.