Artists visit virtual Second Life for real-world cash
By: John D. Sutter
April 7, 2009
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/04/07/second.life.singer/index.html
With the use of Second Life artists are creating online avatars to share music, visual art, and fashion to a larger audience. These artists are expiring difficult times during our current economic condition. Second Life allows artists to create an online alter version of themselves called an avatar. These virtual avatars are able to communicate and interact just like in the real world, but with no limits. In exchange for their goods/talents, other users can exchange the virtual world currency, Linden Dollars which are converted to world currencies just like at a bank. For instance 260 Linden Dollars are equal to 1 dollar in US currency. Currently more than 1 million users have signed up to use Second Life since its creation in 1999. An example artist has created her avatar and plays from her Atlanta home in pubs and clubs within Second Life. She has created a solid following that listen to her music online daily, some even recognize her on the street. Some artists have been able to make a second income from Second Life of 10,000 a year. Much of the money in Second Life comes from tips at about 18 dollars per hours when logged in.
I find the use of the Second Life technology to be great. I believe it is doing exactly what it was designed to do. Second Life eliminates the walls of the world around us and allows you to explore the world and experience things you would not have been able to if not in a virtual world. The utilization of artist to increase their income in hard times is brilliant. By being able to expand their public that they are able to touch and share their talent with means more people they are impacting and opportunity to create a following of fans.
- TJ
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
News Report #4
Facebook Takes a Dive: Why Social Networks Are Bad Businesses
April 1, 2009
By 24/7 Wall St.
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1888796,00.html?cnn=yes
Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube are all very new cutting edge technologies. This article reflects on the image that surrounds these applications and websites. When these new communication pathways became available the press was very interested in what was happening on them. Naturally when more people hear and read about these technologies they become interested themselves to try it out. From the business side of things, people jumped to the conclusion that because these websites are receiving so much press and attention they must be doing well. Then if they are doing well, they must be doing some good business. To the contrary Facebook and Myspace did not meet their revenue targets. Even though Facebook attracted well over 57 million visitors in the US alone with in last month, Facebook’s revenue was a mere 265 million last year. These sites will not do well in business due to the fact that the intended use is to allow people to meet and communicate freely. Visitors are various and very hard to pin down in a large group for advertising.
I found this article very interesting due to the fact that I do use Facebook, and when I log in I always think, “Wow, I bet this company is making so much”. It is interesting to see it broken down and where their revenue really comes from. Now when I think about how the advertising does have to be a very large spectrum, it would be very hard to sell the Facebook medium of advertising to one specific industry. Even though these sites are not making a large amount of revenue as thought, I believe they are still successful and will be around for some time. These sites have opened new paths of how the internet can be used and spawned a whole new era of communication. I am very interested in seeing where the path will go in the evolution of these technologies.
- TJ
April 1, 2009
By 24/7 Wall St.
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1888796,00.html?cnn=yes
Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube are all very new cutting edge technologies. This article reflects on the image that surrounds these applications and websites. When these new communication pathways became available the press was very interested in what was happening on them. Naturally when more people hear and read about these technologies they become interested themselves to try it out. From the business side of things, people jumped to the conclusion that because these websites are receiving so much press and attention they must be doing well. Then if they are doing well, they must be doing some good business. To the contrary Facebook and Myspace did not meet their revenue targets. Even though Facebook attracted well over 57 million visitors in the US alone with in last month, Facebook’s revenue was a mere 265 million last year. These sites will not do well in business due to the fact that the intended use is to allow people to meet and communicate freely. Visitors are various and very hard to pin down in a large group for advertising.
I found this article very interesting due to the fact that I do use Facebook, and when I log in I always think, “Wow, I bet this company is making so much”. It is interesting to see it broken down and where their revenue really comes from. Now when I think about how the advertising does have to be a very large spectrum, it would be very hard to sell the Facebook medium of advertising to one specific industry. Even though these sites are not making a large amount of revenue as thought, I believe they are still successful and will be around for some time. These sites have opened new paths of how the internet can be used and spawned a whole new era of communication. I am very interested in seeing where the path will go in the evolution of these technologies.
- TJ
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