Re: Postmoderna SL Second Life Demographic Survey...UPDATE--07302014

[Flapman]

Hi all,

I wanted to update everyone about the status of the survey.   It is still going on since I only have 98 responses right now.  I need to get it up above 100 to have a reasonable margin of accuracy.    I will be okay with a 90% confidence level (the 100+ mark).  We are so close!!!

As I shared peviously, the intent of the survey was to gather enough info about residents for use in modeling the demographic make-up of the Second Life Resident population.    I would like to be able to post the results in the next couple of weeks on my website. 

You can find the Postmoderna SL Survey at:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/68RB2F7

You can also look at the current results at:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-29GB53R/

 

Thanks in advance,

Flapman

PS.  I am still giving away a copy of the brownstone to anyone that completes it.  You can use the link address at the end or the survey or wait for me to send it to you inworld.

PSS.   If you could, also take the time to post a comment in this thread about how you think this kind of info could be valuable to SL Residents and Business Owners as well as how it could effectively be used.

[Cathy Foil]

I applaud you in your efforts and think what you are doing is worth while.

I am curious to know if the only place you have advertised the survey is here in the General Discussion Forum?

If it is then you are not getting a true demographic of the average SL user base.

What you would end up with is a good demographic of those who read and participate in the General Discussion Forum and who are willing to take time out of their day to click on a link and take the survey.

I am looking forward to seeing how close your results correspond to what LL has been reporting for years.

[Flapman]

Hiya Cathy,

Thanks for your feedback.   Actually I had received survey completes from SL11B and from other inworld locations.  I have put my survey monitors in clubs, stores (MP and inworld).    I tried my best to spread out the resident exposure.

Ironically, I noticed the responses have been pretty similar in all places.

Thanks again for your feedback. 

~J

[Kelli May]

Interesting reading, especially the almost 60-40 Female-Male split, and the age of residents.

When I first vistsed a chatroom, I assumed people would be about my age (late 20s at the time). It turned out to be full of teenagers. When I joined SL (late 30s) I assumed it would be all teenagers (despite the 18+ rule). I was surprised to meet a lot of people around my own age. So I'm not surprised now (pushing mid 40s) that SL has a lot of older residents. I'm still surprised that I'm in the lower half of the age bracket, with about 55% of respondents older than me.

Looking at the trends, more than half of the responses come after you posted here, which suggests a lot of them were from Forumites as Cathy suggests. 

 

[Flapman]

Hiya,

Yes, it is rather interesting material.  I want to point out though that more than half of the respondents are prior to the push on the forums.   The percentages are holding true from before.   The mean age is definitely between 41 and 51.  I think that is because SL is really a more mature and adult virtual world.   Also, since a majority of the respondents have been in SL for >5 years, many of these people were 35+ when they started and are still in SL.    I find that to indicate maturity and localty to the genre of Virtual Worlds that SL represents.

I think it will be interesting to see what other relationships exist when diving deeper into the data.  I am likely to continue to put my survey terminals in more places inworld to get more data. 

Thanks again for your feedback and your support.

~J

[LillyBeth Filth]

 

Flapman wrote:

Hi all,

I wanted to update everyone about the status of the survey.   It is still going on since I only have 98 responses right now.  I need to get it up above 100 to have a reasonable margin of accuracy.    I will be okay with a 90% confidence level (the 100+ mark).  We are so close!!!

As I shared peviously, the intent of the survey was to gather enough info about residents for use in modeling the demographic make-up of the Second Life Resident population.    I would like to be able to post the results in the next couple of weeks on my website. 

You can find the Postmoderna SL Survey at: 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/68RB2F7

You can also look at the current results at: 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-29GB53R/

 

Thanks in advance,

Flapman

PS.  I am still giving away a copy of the brownstone to anyone that completes it.  You can use the link address at the end or the survey or wait for me to send it to you inworld.

PSS.   If you could, also take the time to post a comment in this thread about how you think this kind of info could be valuable to SL Residents and Business Owners as well as how it could effectively be used.

---

I did your survey and included my SL name (It doesn't surprise me that a large majority skipped that part lol) 

I am a little shocked at two things.

1) $15 a month is what the majority of people spend a month on L$ ( I expected much more.. perhaps $50 a month) 

2) The largest percentage of people were in the lowest income bracket.

No wonder precious few people can afford to rent islands or large sims.

Interesting information though  

 

[LillyBeth Filth]

---

Kelli May wrote:

Interesting reading, especially the almost 60-40 Female-Male split, and the age of residents.

When I first vistsed a chatroom, I assumed people would be about my age (late 20s at the time). It turned out to be full of teenagers. 

When I joined SL (late 30s) I assumed it would be all teenagers (despite the 18+ rule). I was surprised to meet a lot of people around my own age. 

So I'm not surprised now (pushing mid 40s) that SL has a lot of older residents. I'm still surprised that I'm in the lower half of the age bracket, with about 55% of respondents older than me.

Looking at the trends, more than half of the responses come after you posted here, which suggests a lot of them were from Forumites as Cathy suggests. 

 

---

The age thing doesn't surprise me at all.

When I was in my 20s 30s I was going out and having a "real life' drinking and partying in "real clubs" and today the 20 somethings are doing online socialising on FaceBook type platforms with real people who they know in person, because it's quick, accessible from their mobile phones and more importantly it's an extension of their RLs. Facebook relates very much to their real identities and real lifes so the younger generation flock towards that. 

It seems to me your average SL user does not like FB or revealing their real identity. Very guarded and secretive people in SL or at least that's the way it comes over to me. They don't want people knowing their real name or anything about their real lives. It's an escapism for them. 

So I suspect when you're long time married it gets boring and predictable and SL appeals to that specific demographic who have online romances (whilst married in RL but bored or feel taken for granted) 

Stay at home mums are a classic typical SL "type" as they tend to have more of time on their hands during the days. 

In theory this age group should also have the most disposable income too. Mortgage is low compared to when they first purchased their house 20 years ago, they have advanced in their careers and should be earning considerably more than in their 20s and their kids have grown and some left the nest.

But nothing is black and white... and my assessment made purely on people I know and have met in SL does not mean everyone in that age group fits that description but from my experience, it does. 

[Flapman]

Hi there,

Yes thanks for taking part.  You are correct about the income part of the equation.  I am going to look at if there is a relationship between Lindens purchased, income, geo location and age when I go through all this.

~A

[Flapman]

Hi LilliBeth,

You make some astute observations.  I can share that my own experiences with people SL is in line with a lot of what you have said.   People tend to be very guarded and secretive in SL however, I don't think that is the overall and typical dynamic.   There is also a popular view that many people in SL just as in the online dating arena, are married or in relationships in RL already.   Intersting that happens to be a popular belief.

You mentioned the "bored" aspect of possible stay-at-home moms/dads., etc and the appeal of something like SL or FB.  I think the alure is there but I find it hard to beleive that many people would look to SL for virtual romantic trists.   I chuckle at that prospect though because in 2009 I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about broken marriages and relationships due to their maintained "second lives" in virtual worlds like Second Life.   I found it a very interesting article.  They showed several examples of virtual affairs that destroyed their real-life relationships.   However, like all media coverage there is another side to the story and most times the published story represents a few people and not the overall population.

It is also interesting what you mentioned about Facebook.   The dynamic and model of social media is going to change though.  I always knew we would cross this point.  Social Media and Virtual World technoloy are at a crossroads.  SL and FB are just parts of this new frontier we will be entering into.  Now that FB owns Oculus Rift, you can bet we will see the evolution of social engagement as it moves into the next level...Interactive Virtual Environments on a grander scale.  You watch.  It is right around the corner.

I am getting ready to start the prelaunch phase of another Postmoderna SL project.  It is based on a belief that SL is just an extension of RL for most people and the problems they have can be dealt with and counseled in SL just like in RL.   We will be starting a live talk show that deals with relationships in SL and virtual worlds and helping people through the challenges they have...giving them a sounding board to talk about them.   As I mentioned, this project is in the prelaunch phase and we will be doing another survey in the Relationships Forum to guage interest.  It should be interesting to see the results.

Now back to the subject of this demographic survey....  I have also experienced some interesting aspects in SL that I will likely comment about when I am ready to do my assesment.  I have noticed some common denominators in SL that I did not address in the survey.   I have been exposed to a fair amount of people that are either disabled, ill, or unable to work. SL for the most part is "their life."   They run successful businesses or are actively engaged socially in SL because that keeps them sane, keeps them busy, keeps them happy.   There also is an interesting psychological aspect where many people seem broken to some degree.  It is the case in RL too for people over the age of 40 since we all have baggage and life experiences that mess us up to some degree.  I wonder though if there is something about the anonymous "we can be who we want to be in SL" aspect in SL and virtual worlds in general that amplifies this.  This would be an interesting thing to test at some point.

Again thanks for your interest and support.  Stay tuned for the results.  I will be working on them in the weeks ahead.  I want to put some more survey terminals out in SL to gather more data.

~J