Second Life has become controversial in Britain after it was reported that the British government spends 12,000 pounds ($17,500) for the Department of Work and Pensions by a Sky News article. It is mainly controversial because the DWP website does not even advertise it. Furthermore, it seems superfluous to maintain a Second Life community when a million people are likely to lose their jobs in the current economic climate. The account initially cost 20,000 pounds ($29,000) to build and costs 12,000 pounds a year to maintain.
The case for the account, according to the department, is that it will eventually save money in the long run. “We believe it could help make sharing technology more efficient and save taxpayers money as meetings, events and shows can be held online at a fraction of the cost and resources,” they said. While 15 million people have signed up in Second Life, active users only count in the hundreds of thousands.
While Second Life does seem to be struggling to catch on, I think it just needs some time. Because the economic climate isn’t very favorable these days, this type of social media which costs money to maintain may not have much support. Even so, if it will save money in the long-run when people do not have to travel for work because they can virtually meet clients, then it will be much more appreciated. However, it seems that free social media is where the support lies during this time.
2 comments:
I found your blog interesting because I personally am not a fan of Second Life. One I think it is completely ridiculous how much money Britain is spending to create and maintain their second life world. I do not see second life ever catching on, and I think the excuse Britain is using about how one day it will save so much money for travel ect. is a bunch of bologna. As I respect those of us out there who are a fan of second life, it is my personal opinion that second life is not user friendly and it takes away from the everyday interactions that I feel bussiness and coporations need to have. Second life is a little difficult to use and takes hours of playing around with it for one to become comfortable with the interface. I know we live in a technology driven world these days but I think if companies started holding meetings in their virtual world, we are going to hurt them more than help. I strongly feel that face to face interactions help keep connections with people strong and interpersonal relationships alive, which is a key to running a good business.
I think in general, governments and organizations really need to examine if they need to be in second life. In general I believe that its an out of date program and many that are hip to the net don't interact with it.
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